Would you do me a favor, marry me?
by EatenByATurtle
Summary: Luke unexpectedly runs into a familiar face and learns that he is a father to a seven year old named April, he desperately tries to prove that he has changed by saying he is engaged to the only women that comes to mind, Lorelai. The only problem is it's not true and now he has to figure out how to go along with his lie. Takes places early season one.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I didn't intend to be working on this story till I was further into my other ones but I was reading my outline for it that I wrote a year or so ago and I'm not really sure how it happened but I accidentally wrote the first seven chapters. This story takes starts out after "Concert Interruptus" and will make it's way through the later half of season one. The first chapter is shorter than most of them but let me know what you think of it so far, if it's something worth continuing I'll probably update weekly being I already have the whole thing outlined. Enjoy!

Luke stood in the Woodbridge hardware store as he flipped through his small notepad, double checking the measurements he had taken early. He placed the notepad in his back pocket then reached out grabbing several pieces of flat shelving from the store shelf. He turned placing them into his cart gently not to cause them any harm then he stepped over and gripped the carts handle as he walked, once he reached the end of the aisle he stopped quick to avoid an oncoming cart.

"Oh." The women pushing the cart said, stopping hers just short of a collision. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's alright." Luke said before looking at her, he squinted his eyes slightly as he came to realization of who the women standing in front of him was. "Anna?"

"Luke." She said surprised.

"Hi." He said, not knowing what else to say at the moment.

She chuckled. "Hi, how's it been?"

"Good, good. How have you been?"

"I'm great." She answered kindly.

"It's nice seeing you again, you got your hair cut."

"Yeah, many times actually."

"I mean it's shorter than it was, you always had that long hair." Luke said awkwardly. "It looks nice."

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I'm just not really sure what to say."

"You're doing fine, it's been a long time."

"The last time I saw you," Luke paused, taking a moment to remember when. "Must have been eight years ago."

"Sounds about right."

"Well it was nice seeing you again." Luke said getting ready to depart, already feeling he had made things weird enough. "I think I might have already said that."

"It was nice seeing you too, Luke." Anna said, as Luke was walking around her a little girl with glasses ran up blocking his way.

"What do you think of this color for my room?" She asked raising up light purple colored swatch. "Or is it out there?"

"It's out there just enough, I think it would look perfect."

The little girl turned to Luke, noticing he had been standing there the whole time. "Who is this?" She asked bluntly.

"This is my old friend, Luke."

"Hi." Luke said well he observed the girl closely, something about her seemed so familiar. He glanced away and towards Anna. "Your daughter?" He asked.

"Yes, this is April." Anna said, placing her hands on April's shoulders.

"Hi." April said sweetly.

"Pretty name." Luke said.

"Well I was born in April so it makes more sense than calling me May."

"That does make more sense."

Anna chimed in. "We should probably get going, we have to finish shopping so April can get home for bed."

"Right." Luke looked down at April. "You probably have school tomorrow."

"Yes, we are learning about the life cycles of plants in science class and our teacher is letting us plant a seed into a cup of dirt and watch it grow." April answered excitedly.

"Well, you wouldn't want to be tired for that."

"Bye Luke." Anna said.

"Bye Luke, nice meeting you." April said with a same wave.

"You too, bye." He said then he watched them as they walked away.

The day went on and Luke couldn't help to think about what he had saw, his former girlfriend with a daughter who closely resembled him, at an age he could only guess was fitting to the timeline they were together. But it couldn't be his daughter, that would be crazy, if it had been Anna would have told him. He thought even more deeply, would have she? He knew things didn't end so well between the two of them, maybe she didn't want him involved. Lost in thought he didn't even notice the diner door fling open or the customer taking a seat next to the counter, he just continued to stare at the rag in his hand.

"Cheese burger, fries and whatever pie you have." Lorelai said while setting her purse down on the counter, when he didn't react to anything she had said she looked over at him while he stood behind the counter with a distant look on his face. "Luke, Luke?!" She raised her voice the second time getting his attention.

"Geez, what are you yelling about?" Luke said, throwing his rag aside.

"I was talking and you ignored me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." He said apologetically. "What were you saying?"

"I was ordering a cheeseburger-"

Luke cut her off. "Fries and whatever pie I have." He said as he wrote it down and slipped the order back to Caesar.

"You were listening."

"No, I just know you well enough to know what you are going to order."

"I don't know if I believe that, maybe you just have very specific premonitions."

"You think I have a psychic ability about what food you are going to order?"

"Hey, I don't hear you denying it."

"You got me." He said sarcastically. "It's far more believable that I have Lorelai ordering premonitions, instead of knowing what you order every single day after five years."

"I knew it!" She said triumphantly earning a small grin from him. "So, what were you so deep in thought about?"

"Oh nothing, just thinking about some stuff."

"Stuff?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, I ran into an former friend today. It got me thinking about some things, things that happened back when I knew them."

"Ah ha, was this a good friend?"

"Yeah, we knew each other a couple years."

"Why'd you stop hanging out?"

"We broke up."

"Oh." Lorelai said as she got that strange feeling she had any time Luke brought up another girl, the feeling she denied as jealously. "It was a girlfriend?"

"Yes, her name is Anna."

Lorelai looked down at the counter and nodded. "How did you two know each other, like how did you meet?"

"I meet her at a party."

"Why can I not imagine you at a party?" She asked, grinning ear to ear.

"It really wasn't my thing, a friend of mine talked me into it because I was having a bit of a rough time after my old girlfriend moved away again."

"Rachel?" He nodded. "Well that's one good way to get over someone."

"It wouldn't have been my idea to move on that quickly, but when you mix in moonshine your decisions don't always come out the same way."

"Luke Danes drinking moonshine, that is something I would have paid to see." She said with a laugh.

"That was the first, and last time I ever did."

"How old were you then?"

"Twenty-four."

"So you went to a party, drank moonshine and hooked up with her."

Luke winced. "Please don't say hooked up."

"Sorry, so you had se-"

He cut her off before she could finish. "Stop.. We did, but after that I took her out and got to know her before we really started dating."

"Why did you break up?"

"She wanted more from me than I was ready for at the age, and I didn't feel like I would ever want anymore with her anyways so I broke it off. A little while after Rachel came back to town, and even though I knew she would leave again I got back together with her. We had this connection I had never felt with anyone else, every time so showed back up I would fall for her all over again. But when Anna found out she got really mad at me, in a way I had never seen her get mad at me before. She kept saying I was only breaking up with because of Rachel and then she stormed out, that was the last time I ever saw Anna until today."

Lorelai looked at Luke amazed. "You have quite a past."

"It sounds more exciting than it was." Luke said, they were interrupted by Caesar handing a plate of food out to him. He took it and set it in front of Lorelai just as Rory came into the diner and took a seat next to her.

"Hey, you ordered without me!" Rory said offended.

"You were taking too long." Lorelai defended.

"How long did you wait to order once you got here?"

"A really long time, right Luke?" Lorelai looked to Luke.

"Yeah, you actually waited till you got to the counter this time."

"Hey, not helping."

"Hey, not trying."

"I can't look at you right now, I'm going to a table." Lorelai said, picking up her plate and walking to a nearby table. "Bring some coffee over."

"Couldn't you drink something other than coffee for once?"

"Sure, bring over some of your moonshine."

He chose to ignore her then he glanced over at Rory. "What can I get you?"

"The usual." She said, Luke wrote it down and handed it to Caesar as he walked by. She stepped away from the counter to walk away when Luke stopped her.

"Rory?" He asked.

"Yeah?" She answered, glancing back at him.

"What grade did you learn about life cycles of plants?"

She looked at him oddly but answered anyways. "First grade I think, we got to grow our own plant in a cup."

He wrinkled his brow. "Not kindergarden?"

"No, Kindergarten was really only basic stuff like learning to write or add."

"Okay, just wondering. You can go to your table now."

"Alright, don't forgot the coffee." She said as she walked away, Luke took a breath before getting back to work.

Later that night after Lorelai and Rory finished eating and doing a fair share of annoying Luke they headed back home. Lorelai kicked her shoes off as soon as they walked in the front door and found her way to the couch, Rory followed behind sitting next to her in their living room.

"What was up with Luke tonight?" Rory asked, pulling off her coat and setting it on the arm of the couch.

"What do you mean?" Lorelai asked.

"Well the whole time we were there he seemed out of it, and he had asked me something about learning the life cycles of plants in school."

"What, why would he ask you that?"

"I don't know, he asked what grade I learned it in."

"Did he give you a reason why he was asking that?"

"He said he was just wondering."

Lorelai crinkled her nose in wonder. "That is weird."

"So you have no clue why he was acting so different?"

"I know why he was acting different but it didn't have to do with plants."

"What was it then?"

"He ran into an ex today, and I guess it put him in kind of a weird mood."

"Oh, sad." Rory said sympathetically. "Were they really serious?"

"They dated two years then he broke it off because he didn't see it going anywhere."

"You think he is regretting his decision now that he saw her again?"

"I hadn't thought about that, the way he was acting about everything, it would make sense."

"Poor Luke."

"Yeah, poor Luke." Lorelai said as she started getting that same feeling from earlier back, the one she isn't calling jealousy.

The next day seemed to come as slowly as possible for Luke, maybe it was because he couldn't sleep thinking about the possibility April could be his kid. The thought alone was enough to make him go crazy, half way through his work day he decided he couldn't wait any longer and he looked up Anna's address then drove to her house. He didn't know what he would say or how he would take it if he did find out she was his but he knew he had to know and he had to know now. He walked the steps of her porch and left a hard knock on her front door, a few moments later the door opened.

"Luke?" Anna said, surprised to see him at her house.

"Is April seven?" He asked immediately.

"Yes, she is."

"We broke up in August, I remember because we had just been to the beach and a bunch of kids were having an end of summer event. We got into a fight because I wanted to leave and you said you wanted to stay and that I was being frigid."

"I remember."

"That was eight months before April was born." Anna nodded. "Is she mine?"

"I thought about telling you, I came by the diner to see you and you were there with Rachel. That wasn't why I didn't tell you but then we got into a that fight and I never really thought about telling you again after that."

"Why wouldn't you tell me this, Anna?" He asked angrily. "She is my daughter!"

"You couldn't be a father Luke, I had two years of proof in that matter."

"Why do you think I wouldn't be a good father?"

"You hate kids."

"I don't hate kids." Luke defended.

"We couldn't go the movies before ten o'clock at night in case there were kids in the theatre."

"Well, kids talk during a movie. And they throw crap around, they run up and down the aisles. They're animals."

"We would move tables in a restaurant if they seated us near a family."

"Only if there was something crying or spitting up."

"You would flip out if you saw a woman breastfeeding in public, you couldn't stand to watch diaper commercials and you had an unnatural hatred of Macaulay Culkin."

"Okay, fine!" Luke stopped her. "I hated kids, but I'm not that guy anymore."

"Eight years ago, you were that guy."

"It doesn't mean I would have been like that with my kid, I could be a father."

"You couldn't have been a father back then, I don't think you could even be one now."

Luke puffed a breath of air out. "What makes you think I couldn't be a father now?"

"You haven't changed at all since the last time I saw you."

"I have, what makes you think I haven't changed?"

"Luke, I still have friends in Stars Hollow. I ask them about you so I know if one day April found you I could know that you would be ready, and let me tell you I don't think you are ready. And I can't have you involved in my kids life if you are the same guy you were eight years ago."

"April is my kid too, and I have changed."

"How have you changed? As far as I know you are still the same man living in his dad's office, hiding from the world and repeating the same failed relationship with Rachel over and over again."

"I changed." Luke said sternly.

"How? Tell me how and we can talk about you being involved in April's life."

Luke stood silent a moment, not being able to come up with a way he had changed then he said the one thing he could think of to make it seemed as if he did. "I'm engaged."

"Really?" Anna said shocked.

"Yes, I'm getting married."

"Why haven't I heard anything about this? I know Miss Patty would have spend this news all over town if she knew."

"We didn't tell the town, they don't even know we've been dating, but we are talking about telling them now that we know it's permanent."

"Really?"

"Yes, neither of us have had successful relationships and we didn't want the town looking over our shoulders waiting for us to screw it up so we waited and we hid it."

"What's her name?"

"Lorelai." Luke blunted out, saying the only name that came to mind.

"How long have you two been dating?"

"A couple months, but we have been close friends for five years now."

"Are you still living in the office above the diner?"

"Only till we tell the town about us then I'm moving in with her and her daughter."

Anna raised her eyebrows. "She has a daughter?"

"Yeah, her name is Rory and she's sixteen. I was actually at the store yesterday getting stuff to build her a bigger book shelf with, she loves reading."

"Wow, I can't see you willingly dating someone with a kid."

"Well Rory is a great kid, her dad is really never around so I always felt like I should be another person she could depend on, other than her mother. I mean her mother would be more than enough of a support system because she's like some superhero when it comes to parenting, but I know it's always nice to have more than one person to lean on."

"It seems like you have matured a lot since we knew each other."

"I have and I can tell you that I would always be there for April, no matter what."

"I'm still not ready to let her know, I'd like to give it a little time. Maybe get to know the person you have become and make sure you are really ready to be apart of her life."

"Okay."

"I gotta get to work but you can give you a call later this week, we can discuss things further."

"Alright, I'll talk to you then." Luke said as he started to leave.

"And Luke, good luck telling the town about your engagement, I'm sure they will be very happy for you."

"Thanks." Luke said then walked to the front door. "Bye, Anna."

"Bye Luke." She said and he let himself out, he stepped outside closing the door, he leaned back against it and took a deep breath.

After he got into his truck he took the way back to Stars Hollow, once he was in town he drove over to Lorelai's house parking in the driveway behind her jeep. He stepped out of his truck and walked to her front door, knocking a few times while the whole time asking himself what he had done. He heard some fumbling around inside then the door flung open.

"Luke, hi." Lorelai said with a sweet smile.

"Hi." Luke said then stood there without saying another word.

"Did you just come over here to say that?"

"No." He shook his head. "Ah, is Rory home?"

"No, she is at Lanes." Lorelai answered. "Why?"

"Do you mind if I come in?"

"Sure, come on in." She said, holding the door open enough for him to walk inside. When he got into the foyer she shut the door behind him, after standing there another moment he spoke again.

"Can we sit?"

"Yeah." She walked to the kitchen and he followed behind her before they both took a seat at the on dining chairs. "What is it, Luke?"

"You know how I told you about seeing Anna yesterday?"

"Yes, I seem to recall the conversion we had yesterday."

"Well, I didn't tell you everything about when I saw her again."

"Oh god." She said with a grimace. "Did you break out the moonshine again?"

"No, we only saw each other at the store." Luke paused. "But she wasn't alone."

"Was she with another guy, is that why you are freaking out?"

"No, she was with her daughter. Seven years old, brown hair, cute little glasses, my nose."

"Wait a second, did you just say your nose?" She asked and Luke nodded. "She is your daughter?"

"She is my daughter."

"Oh my god, you have a kid." Lorelai said in disbelief.

"I have a kid."

"And you never knew about her?"

"Anna didn't think I'd be a fit parent so she didn't tell me about April, that's her name, April."

"I can not believe this, how could she keep your kid away from you like that?" Lorelai asked defensively.

"I don't know, she thought it would be best."

"How? You deserved a chance to be apart of your daughter's life and April deserved to have a father in her's."

"She didn't think I could have been a father back then."

"That is non sense, you would be a great father."

"Would I have been though?"

"Don't you doubt that." Lorelai said placing her hand on his arm. "Since the day you met Rory you have always been there for her and you had no obligation to do so."

"I really want to get to know my kid."

"You know now, so get to know her."

"It isn't that easy.. Anna didn't plan on letting me be involved because she didn't think I have changed enough to be a good father, she doesn't think I am mature enough to handle it."

"But you have changed, haven't you?"

"No." Luke said, standing up from his chair. "I haven't changed at all, I'm still doing everything the same way I did eight years ago. I live in the same place, work in the same place and I fall for Rachel everytime she comes back into town only to be disappointed again when she leaves. I am the same exact person I was, only older."

"So she isn't going to let you see your daughter because of it?"

"She wasn't going to."

"Wasn't?" Lorelai paused. "Did she change her mind?"

"She said she would consider it now that she knew I had changed."

"I'm confused, you just said you didn't change." Lorelai said, losing track of what was going on.

"But I didn't tell her that." He took a seat across from her again. "I sort of panicked when she said I couldn't see April."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her I has engaged." Luke paused, taking a deep breath. "To you."

"You said what?" Lorelai asked shocked.

"I was standing there freaking out and I kind of blurted it out, I had you on the mind because I told you all that stuff last night and I knew you having Rory might help win her over a bit, show her I could be a father figure." Luke explained. "I'm so sorry, I just didn't know what to do."

"It's okay, Luke." She said, trying to calm him down. "If you had to tell her that so you could see your kid, then that's what you had to do."

"That isn't the worst part, Anna used to live in Stars Hollow and she still has close friends that are here that hear all the town gossip and tell it to her. She almost didn't believe me because she didn't hear anything about us being together, so I told her we kept it a secret till we were sure it was serious and now that we are engaged we are going to tell everybody."

"Tell everybody?" She asked, Luke nodded. "Like the whole town? Miss Patty, Babette, Sookie, all these people?"

"Yes, but I know we can't do that so I don't even know why I said it. I was saying all this crazy things, and more and more stuff just kept coming out of my mouth and I don't know where it was coming from, hell I even gave us a backstory."

"What was our back story?" She asked, wanting to know more.

"We don't have to talk about this, Lorelai."

"No, I'm curious."

"I said we started dating two months ago because I heard you and that teacher broke up then I didn't want our fake relationship to overlap with your real one.. And I said how we were close friends for five years and how after we told the town I was gonna move in with you and Rory and we were gonna get married." Luke stopped and looked at Lorelai. "I must sound so insane to you right now."

"You do not sound insane, you sound like a guy who would do anything to be apart of his kids life."

"But this isn't me, I don't lie, I don't make up fake stories. One time my dad caught me stealing a candy bar at the store and I lied and said I must have been sleepwalking when I stole it. Five seconds later I caved and told him the truth, I still feel guilty everytime I see a butterfinger."

Lorelai chuckled. "You should make up fake stories, you seem pretty good at it."

"Lorelai." He warned.

"No seriously, if I had your story telling capabilities dinner with my mom would be a breeze."

Luke shoved his face into his palms. "I don't know what I'm going to do, now not only will she know I haven't changed she can now add big fat liar to the list."

"First off, you are not a big fat liar, you are a tall muscular liar. And second off, you don't have to tell her you lied."

Luke looked up at her surprised. "What?"

"We will tell the town we are engaged, her nosey friends will hear and tell her then she won't think you lied."

"Lorelai, I can't let you do that, I'd be making you lie to everybody."

"I don't mind, you have done so much for me and Rory so the least I could do is help you get a relationship with your daughter."

"Even if I did let you do this, what is the point? Everyone will find out it isn't true eventually."

"How will they know?"

"They might figure it out when there isn't a wedding to go to, unless you plan on having a fake ceremony then pretending we are married the rest of our lives."

"Engagements don't always work out, we play along with it and make people think we are together long enough for you to get to know April before we break up, pretend break up that is."

"This is way too much."

"No, it isn't." Lorelai said, putting her hand on her chest. "I promise you, we can do this."

"If we do this you can tell Rory and Sookie, I don't want to cause trouble between any of you."

"That sounds good to me."

"Are you sure we can do this?" Luke asked, still kicking himself for bringing her into this.

"I know we can, I'm gonna make sure you can see April."

"Thank you so much for this, you don't know how much this means to me." Luke said sincerely.

"Hey, what are friends for."

"Well not this, that's why I'm thanking you." He said, they both smiled at each other before he stood up. "I need to get back to the diner, I sort of ran out on my shift earlier so Caesar is probably pretty upset with me by now."

"Okay, I'll see you later than."

"How about you and Rory come to the diner later for dinner, fake fiance's get everything on the house."

"Damn, if I would have know that I would have gotten fake engaged to you sooner."

"Bye, Lorelai." He said with a smile as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Bye, cupcake." She teased and he turned around to face her, giving her an odd look. "Just getting into character."

"Pet names aren't necessary."

"Okay.. Sweet cheeks."

Luke shook his head as he turned to leave again. He thought about how he definitely had ideas in the past about being married to Lorelai but this one way wouldn't have crossed his mind in a million years, not that they would really even be married. He still wasn't sure if it was a good idea getting Lorelai involved in his lie but he felt as though it might be the only way to get to spend some time with his daughter, no matter how embarrassing it had already proven to be. He was stuck in this lie he had formed and there was no way to back out of it now, the only thing he could do was go on pretending.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I am honestly amazed by the amount of good feedback I got on this story, I wasn't really sure going into this one if people would like it after all the conflict towards the original April storyline. I've been having a lot of fun working on this story because I'm getting to put characters that weren't well liked in the show into a whole different light, without changing them too much from what you could already tell about them. So thank you to everyone who reviewed and everyone who is ready to follow along with this story as I go, I hope it remains something you can enjoy. Let me know what you think of the second chapter!

Lorelai couldn't believe what she had gotten herself into, a few hours ago her good friend of five years told her he had a kid. Luke had a daughter, a phase she never thought would be a reality. Sure he was great with Rory and she had no doubt that he would be capable of taking care of a child but something about him didn't really scream dad. Maybe it was because of his rants about disliking kids or the fact that the only serious relationship she had even seen him in was between his and his baseball cap. But as soon as he told her about April she could tell how badly he wanted to be involved, to be apart of this young girl's life. Because of that she was going to do everything she could to help him, even if it meant lying to the town and pretending the two of them were in a committed relationship. She didn't know how they would make it work, she wondered if they could really pull off playing a pretend engaged couple. The two of them were friends and that was all they were ever going to be, at least that's what she told everyone else and herself anytime the idea of them being something more came up. They had had moments in the past where she thought there could have been something between them but she would push the feelings aside, she knew there was no way Luke felt that way towards her no matter how many times people had told her so. But why did he say her name to Anna? Was it really like he had said, that he thought back to their conversion together and that her having Rory would benefit his story. Or could have it been that he really did think of her as more than a friend? She was pulled out of her thought by the front door flinging open.

"Your favorite daughter has returned home." Rory yelled from the foyer.

"Trisha, I thought I told you not to yell that stuff when Rory could be home." Lorelai answered from the couch.

"And to think I brought you home a cupcake from Westens." Rory said as she kicked off her shoes and walked to the living room, brown bag in hand.

"Oh, bring it here sweet child of mine."

"You think you can win me back over with Guns N' Roses lyrics?"

"It's happened before." Lorelai said then Rory walked over and handed her the bag, she opened it looking inside at the cupcake. "Oh, you got extra frosting!"

"Only the best from my mama, you better tell Trisha to step up her game."

"Well she usually gives me foot massages while I eat." Lorelai said, wiggling her toes on the table.

"It sounds like she deserves the favorite daughter title more than I do because that's not happening." Rory said pushing her feet off the coffee table. "I'm gonna go get some reading done before dinner."

"Hey wait, sit down a minute." Lorelai said, patting on the couch cushion beside her.

"Okay." She took a seat and looked over at Lorelai who wasn't saying anything yet, but she could tell by her expression that she had something to tell her. "Mom, is something wrong?"

"Rory." She paused and took a breath. "Luke and I are engaged."

"What?!" Rory's eyes widened. "When did this happen? How did this happen?"

Lorelai laughed. "Okay, I'm just kidding."

"Seriously mom, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Rory said, clutching her chest.

"I'm sorry, but there is something I have to talk to you about."

"What? Are you pregnant with Taylor's baby?"

Lorelai winced. "Oh, mental image be gone!"

"Really mom, what is it?"

"You know how I told you about Luke running into his ex girlfriend yesterday?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well he didn't tell me everything about their encounter, he said she had her seven year old daughter with her."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Luke was with her eight years ago."

"No.. Luke has a daughter?" Rory asked in a shocked tone.

"He told me her name is April."

"Woah, Luke is a daddy?"

"I was just as surprised as you are."

"How is he taking it? I mean he must be freaking out, he probably put his baseball cap on backwards."

"He's freaking out, but not for the reasons you would think." She paused. "He wants to get to know his daughter but I guess his ex Anna doesn't think he would be a fit father."

"That's crazy, who is this chick?" Rory said, hopping up from the couch. "I'll talk to her!"

"Calm down there sparky, we already figured out a way to convince her otherwise."

"What is it?" She asked as she sat back down.

"Luke got a little flustered when Anna kept saying he hadn't changed at all over the years so he said he was engaged." She paused. "To me."

"He said that?" Rory asked surprised.

"He thought I would be a good choice because I had you and that would show that he liked kids."

"And Anna believed him?"

"It sounds like it, she even said they would talk about him seeing April."

Rory smiled. "That's great."

"This is the complicated part though, she lived in Stars Hollow so she has friends here. Friends that would know if me and Luke were really together and then tell her, so Luke told her we have been keeping it a secret till things got serious, but now we are engaged we are getting ready to tell everyone."

"Wow, Luke is really good at making stories up. You should get some tips from him to use at Friday night dinners."

"I said the same thing to him!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"So, you two are going to tell everyone to lie so that Anna thinks you are engaged? Isn't that going to be really difficult?"

"You see that would be very difficult, so we decided we are going to tell everyone we are actually engaged."

"You aren't going to tell them that you aren't really together?"

"No, we need this to work so we can't have any mistakes. If Anna somehow found out he lied then I'm sure she would never let him around April."

"I get it, it could be the only way Luke can see his daughter."

"This isn't going to be too weird for you, is it?"

"It's really weird since we have to lie to everyone, but it's for Luke, so I'll do it."

"Thank you, I know Luke is gonna be really happy you are on board with this."

"Of course, after everything he has done for us we owe it to him." Rory said, Lorelai gave her an appreciative smile. "Now what are we getting for dinner? I am starving."

"Well I heard a rumor that fake, soon to be family members eat for free at Luke's."

"Really? Rory asked with a smirk. "Why are we still sitting here then?

They both stood up and made their way to the diner, when they got inside they looked around and found an empty table before taking a seat at it.

"Where is Luke at?" Rory asked, peering around the diner.

"I don't know, but I need some coffee." Lorelai said, standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make us a couple cups of coffee." She said, pointing to the coffee machines.

"You can't do that, Luke will get mad."

"Hey, fiance's are allowed behind the counter." Lorelai said as she walked away, she got behind the counter then grabbed two cups and began to fill them.

"Hey!" Luke hollered, walking out from the staircase. "What are you doing back here?"

"Making coffee." Lorelai answered with a smile.

"You aren't supposed to be back here."

Lorelai put the two full cups on the counter and stepped towards him. "You look very handsome today." She said lowering her voice.

"You aren't going to charm me into letting you behind my counter." He said, not phased by how close she was standing.

"Look, I'm already done." She pointed at the coffee filled cups.

"Take your coffee's and get back to your table."

"Okay, but you better get us some cheeseburgers soon or I'm gonna head back to the kitchen and start making those too."

"Get." He said, shooing her away.

Lorelai laid one hand on his chest. "Such a sweet talker." She said before grabbing their coffee's and walking back to the table, she took a seat and slid Rory's cup over to her and took a sip of her own.

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"What was what?"

"Were you just flirting with Luke?"

Lorelai's smile widened. "Yes." She answered proudly.

"Bravo." Rory said, giving her a silent round of applause.

"So you thought it was believable?"

"It will be the lead story in the Gazette tomorrow, hell they might even send out a night edition to get the news out sooner."

"Good, I'm trying to get people suspicions up before we tell them the big news." Lorelai said, putting air quotes around 'big news'.

"How far are you guys going to take this?"

"Till about five seconds before the 'I do's'."

"Really?"

"No, we are going to pretend to break up once Anna fully accepts Luke as April's father."

Rory glanced towards the door at the two women coming inside. "Miss Patty and Babette alert, coming in the diner."

"Okay, no more talking about it here or this will never work." Lorelai turned to the both of them. "Hey ladies." They all exchanged pleasantries before they took a seat at the table next to them, Lorelai noticed Luke walking out of the kitchen with their plates then leaned in towards Rory. "Show time."

"Good luck."

Lorelai leaned back as Luke set their plates in front of them, she set a hand on Luke's arm keeping him at the table. "Hey Luke, I should get that book from you before I forget." She said loud enough for them to hear.

Luke squinted in confusion. "What, what book?"

"The book that we were talking about, you know the one that is up in your apartment." Lorelai said gesturing towards the stairs case, Luke glanced over at the women at the other table who were staring at them.

Luke let his gaze go back to Lorelai. "Oh yeah, that book." He said, pointing a finger as if he remembered. "Let's head upstairs and grab it quick." She stood up and followed close behind him as he walked upstairs and into his apartment. "You are having too much fun with this already, aren't you?"

Lorelai flashed him a sly smile. "Yes, yes I am." She walked over to his fridge and opened it up looking at the contents inside. "Do you got any snacks up here?"

"You know you have a perfectly good cheeseburger downstairs, right?"

"Yes, but I'm hungry now." She said, closing the fridge door.

"Then go eat."

"Thirty seconds is not long enough for a steamy make out session."

"What?!" He staggered.

"Everyone in the diner right now is thinking we are up here feeling each other up and a decent tongue war lasts at least two minutes."

"Geez." Luke blushed.

"Hey, you want them to think we are together, right? This is how we'll do it, let them make up their own side of the story for a few days till we tell them about the engagement. They will be so hyped up from all the rumors that we could tell them that you are Rory's real father and they would believe it."

"This is a bizarre town we live in."

"Okay, I think that's good enough." Lorelai said then walked over in front of Luke. "Now we just need some finishing touches." She lifted her pointer finger to her lips, lightly dabbing her lipstick onto it before moving it towards Luke lips.

He pulled back quickly before she could touch him. "What are you doing?"

"If we kissed you would have lipstick on you, this will make all the difference." Lorelai said then grabbed a hold of his neck with one hand and dabbed on his lips with the colored finger, leaving a light tint behind. "Perfect, let's go. And try standing closer to me, we really gotta sell it."

They walked downstairs close enough that Lorelai could feel his breathe on her, as soon as they got in eye shot to the customers they made sure everyone saw the small distance between them before splitting apart quickly. Lorelai found her way back to her table and Luke grabbed his notepad and pen before heading over to Miss Patty and Babette's table. "What can I get you ladies?"

"Honey, you have something on your lips." Miss Patty said, staring at his face.

He reached up and wiped away the lipstick, he made sure to hold his hand in their view as he looked at the pinkish red smeared onto it. "I ah, had a popsicle." Luke said, Lorelai bite down on her lip trying not to laugh. Rory noticed Lorelai and smiled, shaking her head at her.

Luke took their ordered and walked back to the kitchen, both women turned towards Lorelai. "Lorelai, sugah. What book did you borrow from Luke?" Babette asked.

"He couldn't find it." Lorelai said quickly.

"Which one was it?" Miss Patty asked.

"Just this one, ah.. I'm blanking on the name." Lorelai looked to Rory. "Rory, what was that book I was going to borrow from Luke?"

"The one by Patricia Gaffney, 'Wild at Heart'."

"Yes, that's the one."

"I can't believe Luke owns that book." Miss Patty said.

"And he wanted you to read it?" Babette asked.

"Yeah, he said I would really like it."

Miss Patty and Babette shared glances as they turned back to their table, Lorelai and Rory went back to eating. Once the both of them were finished Lorelai walked over to the counter near Luke.

"You heading out?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, we're leaving."

"Okay. Have a good night, Lorelai."

"Night, Luke." She started to walk away to leave then she turned back. "Oh, I almost forgot." She said, walking back towards him. "Tomorrow could you come over and fix my sink? It's making that gurgling noise again."

"Did you drop another knife down the drain?"

"No." She defended. "I don't think."

"What time?"

"Would seven work? Right after Rory leaves for school."

"Yeah, I'll be there."

Lorelai smiled then leaned over to counter so she was near his ear. "Now watch me walk away." She whispered, he took the command seriously and watched her as she walked out of the diner following Rory outside.

"Was Luke just staring at your butt?" Rory asked.

"Why yes, he was." Lorelai said triumphantly.

"You two are going to be the first to cause a town wide heart attack."

"And we shall do it proudly." Lorelai said then looked over at Rory. "What was that book you told them about?"

"'Wild at Heart', it's about a woman who falls in love with a beautiful ruggage man who grew up in the woods without civilization."

Lorelai smiled. "You are too good."

"Well you and Luke can't have all the fun." Rory said then they walked a little further. "You two are really good at this."

"What do you mean?"

"The pretending to be together thing, it seems so natural."

"We must be good actors then."

"No, I've seen you trying to act before and it isn't pretty."

"What are you getting at?" Lorelai asked defensively.

"It's just-" She paused. "Have you ever thought about Luke in that way, like as more than a friend?"

"Rory, Luke and I are friends."

"I know that, but have you ever thought about the possibility of more? I know you asked me once if I thought Luke was cute and I told you that you couldn't date him, but you know if you wanted to you could, it wouldn't bother me."

"I've never really thought about it."

"You haven't?" Rory asked, not fully believing her.

"Well, I try not to think about it."

"Why?"

"I don't think about it because if there is a possibility of more I don't want to know about it, I don't want to mess things up. Luke means so much to me and so much to you, I couldn't be the reason we lose him."

"What makes you think we would lose him?"

"Hello, have you meet me?"

"Anna spent all these years keeping her daughter away from Luke because she was worried something bad would happen, and look at everything he missed because of it. There are so many memories this girl could have had with her dad, but she didn't even get the chance because of the fear that things might not work out."

"But this isn't the same situation, and even it was now is not the time to figure it out. Luke is going through so much right now, our goal is to get his kid in his life and that's it."

"Okay." Rory said with a nod. "What do you think his daugher is like?"

"I don't know, hopefully we will find out soon." Lorelai said, linking arms with Rory as they walked home.

The next morning Luke left the diner in time to make it to Lorelai's house at their planned time, several towns people were at the diner when he left and asked him if he was going to Lorelai's house which he confirmed for them. He took the steps up her porch and the front door opened before he had even had a chance to knock, Rory stepped out with her backpack in hand.

"Morning, Luke." She said, slinging her bag onto her shoulders.

"Morning." He said, she looked down and noticed a paper bag in his hand.

"I hope you brought some homemade pop tarts, we didn't notice we were out and now mom is cranky."

"There aren't pop tarts." He said and opened up the bag, letting her peek inside.

"Danishes!" She said in an excited tone. "It isn't danish day."

"It's part of my thank you to you both for doing this. Grab a few, you can eat them on the bus."

Rory reached in the bag grabbing one with each hand. "Thank you, Luke. I gotta get to school but you can walk right in, moms in the kitchen."

"Okay, see you later." He walked past her and closed the front door behind him, he walked straight to the kitchen where Lorelai was sitting drinking coffee. "Hey, Rory told me to walk right in. I hope that's okay."

"Of course." Lorelai said then glanced at the bag in his hand. "You come bearing gifts?"

"Yeah, I brought you some danishes." He said handing her the bag. "I already gave Rory a couple so you can go crazy with the rest."

"And it's not even danish day, thank you." She said, taking a danish out of the bag and setting it on a napkin in front of her.

"I'll start fixing the sink, is my toolbox still upstairs?"

"The sink isn't broken."

"What? Why'd you tell me it was broken then?"

"Not only will you coming over when Rory isn't here add to everyone's suspicions, but I also figured it would be a good time for us to talk and figure out some details."

"Details?" Luke asked as he took a seat next to her at the kitchen table.

"We need our stories to match if we don't want to raise any red flags. How we started dating, how'd we get engaged, what are our plans to tell the town and are they going to know about April?"

"I think we can leave April out of it at first till we know more about what Anna is doing."

"That's a good start."

"How'd we start dating?" Luke asked, wanting her to get the story going.

"I was thinking we drank a little too much moonshine and woke up in bed together the next morning."

"Lorelai." He warned.

"Okay." She paused to think a moment. "You said two months ago so that would have been right after Max dumped me, maybe we could work that in. Like I was really upset so you came by the house after you noticed I'd been acting down, and you comforted me."

"And I told you how this guy must have been a complete idiot to lose a women like you and that someday you would find a guy who is there for you, and cares about you, and couldn't imagine his life if you weren't in it everyday.. Then I took your hand." Luke said and reached over taking her hand into his, she glanced at their hands then looked back at him. "If he couldn't see your smile, or hear your laugh, if he didn't get to be repulsed by your eating habits." Lorelai smiled. "The right guy will know he is the luckiest man in the world to wake up every morning next to you, and he will never let you go." Luke stared at her and she could literally feel her heart racing through her chest. "What do you think of that?"

Lorelai cleared her throat. "That is definitely better than the moonshine story."

"Well, we could use that one for the engagement story." He said, finally letting go of her hand.

"You aren't getting off that easy mister, you made up the perfect get together story and now I want to hear how you proposed."

"Coffee beans." Luke said simply.

"What?"

"Saturday morning, I wrote out 'will you marry me?' in coffee beans."

"Oh romantic, and it definitely screams Lorelai." She said, impressed by his idea. "So, why did you decide to propose?"

"Because I wanted to marry you."

"Seems like a good enough reason."

"I thought so." He said with a shrug.

"Now telling the town.."

"Did you tell Sookie yet about what we are doing?"

"I'm gonna tell her at work today, are you going to tell anyone?"

"No, the four of us are good enough."

"We could tell everyone tomorrow, maybe give them some more hints today."

"Okay, are you really sure you want to do this? Because you could still back out."

"I'm not backing out, I want to do this for you."

"How do we tell them?"

"I haven't figured that out yet, you have any ideas?"

"I have a ring."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "You got me a ring?"

"It was my mother's engagement ring, it's in my safe at home."

"You think it will fit me?"

Luke reached over and grabbed her left hand, running his fingers over her ring finger. "I'm sure it will." He said before letting her hand go. "I should let you go, you probably have to get to the inn."

"Yeah, Michel gets crabby if I'm late."

"I'll see you later, Lorelai." Luke stood up from his chair and walked out of the kitchen.

"Bye." Lorelai said, she looked down at her hand and ran her fingers over it the same way Luke had just done it. She exhaled deeply then stood up grabbing her danish and carrying it with her upstairs, after she finished getting ready she was on her way to the inn.

"Lorelai!" Sookie squealed as soon as she noticed Lorelai walk into the kitchen, she pulled her into a tight hug.

"Did you take an extra dose of your medication again?" Lorelai asked then Sookie pulled back, leaving both her hands on Lorelai's arms.

"Is it true?" She asked eagerly.

"Is what true?"

"You know." She switched her voice to a whisper. "You and Luke."

Lorelai smiled, proud of how quickly they managed to already convince the town there were together. "Are you busy right now? We could go talk in the office."

"Manny, I'm taking my break. Don't let my hash browns burn, I don't want to come back to hash blacks. You understand?" Sookie said and he nodded. "Let's go." She said practically shoving Lorelai towards her office, once they got inside she shut the door and looked at Lorelai with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Sookie, stop it with that smirk. It's not what you think." Lorelai told her and they sat down, she went over everything that happened the last couple days and told her what Luke and her planned to do.

"Wow, that's-" Sookie stopped, not being able to form a word.

"Crazy?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, crazy." Sookie sat quietly a moment then looked over at Lorelai. "So you and Luke aren't together?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" She asked hopefully.

"How could I not be sure of that?" Lorelai said then Sookie sighed. "Are you really that disappointed that we aren't actually together?"

"I thought the rumors were true and you two finally opened your eyes, you would be so good for each other."

"Sookie, Luke and I are just friends."

"This is an awful big favor for a friend."

"I owe him, he has does everything for me and then some."

"It is going to be interesting to see the two of you pull this off, the whole town has probably already started cleaning up the square from your wedding ceremony."

"They don't know about the fake engagement yet."

Sookie smirked. "I didn't say they did."

"I really hope we don't screw this up, I don't want the town to know that we lied to them and I really don't want Anna to know."

"They won't find out, you two are doing great." Sookie said, putting a reassuring hand on her arm. "And it sounds like Anna probably loved Luke at some point so once she is seeing him around again she might soften up a bit, maybe after you dump him they could really connect again."

"I hadn't thought about that, Luke didn't seem like he was that into her though."

"But you know what happens when you have a kid together, you always have that connection."

"Yeah." Lorelai said then she shifted in her seat. "I should ah, get to work. I'm sure Manny has done something for you to yell at him about by now."

"I have no doubt about that." Sookie said standing up. "I'll see you later, missus Danes."

Lorelai shook her head at her, Sookie walked out of the office leaving her to work. Lorelai spent her work day thinking about what Sookie had said, once she was out of the picture what would that mean for Luke and Anna? She knew better than anyone what kind of connection you could have with the person you created a life with, even if you weren't right for each other you felt as though you had to at least try. What if he and Anna connected again as soon and they started hanging around each other and it turned out he didn't even need her for his plan, then he would go off with his new family and not give her a second thought. This was crazy, why did she even care? It's not like they are really engaged, if he wants to be with her then that is his choice. She tapped her pen on her desk as she watched the clock tick to five o'clock, she hopped up grabbing her purse and headed out of the inn and into her jeep. She drove to the one place she knew she could find him, the diner. She got out of her car and rushed inside going straight over to Luke and grabbing onto his shirt, pulling him towards the stairs.

"Lorelai, what are you doing?" He asked, she didn't say a word but continued to drag him till they got inside his apartment. "Geez, what is up with you?"

"I think we should do it now."

"What?" He asked unsurely.

"The ring, we should let them find out now."

"I thought we were going to wait till tomorrow?"

"I think they are ready, and I think we should have it announced before you talk to Anna tomorrow."

"Alright, if you are ready then let's do this."

"I am ready." She answered. He walked over to his safe, spun the code into it making it open then he grabbed out a small velvet box. She smiled as he walked back towards her. "Are you going to get down on one knee?"

"No." He said then opened the box and grabbed the ring out leaving it between his two fingers. "Lorelai Gilmore, will you fake marry me?"

She laughed. "Yes, I fake will." She said then he lifted her hand and slid it onto her finger, she gazed down at it with a smile. "It fits."

"I told you it would."

"It's beautiful." Lorelai said, running her thumb over it.

"My mom always told me my dad had great taste in jewelry."

"Are you sure you're okay with me wearing your mom's ring?"

"Yeah, I planned on using it someday anyways so it's not like it was going to stay in my safe forever."

"Really? I didn't think you were a ring wearing kind of guy."

"Not for me, to give to someone."

"Like propose?"

"Do you know of any other reason to give someone an engagement ring?"

Lorelai gestured to their situation. "I can think of one."

"Other than this way I mean."

"I guess not." Lorelai said and they stood they quietly a few seconds.

"So, should we go downstairs and wait to see how long it takes them to notice?"

"Kirk's sitting at the counter, if I sit down near him the whole town will know in fifthteen minutes tops."

"Lead the way." Luke said opening his door, the two walked downstairs into the diner and Lorelai took a seat at the stool next to Kirk and Luke went behind the counter.

"Hey, hun. Can I get some coffee?" Lorelai asked Luke, pointing towards the coffee pots with her left hand. She watched in the corner of her eye at Kirk's reaction when he noticed the ring upon her finger.

"Sure." Luke said, filling up a cup and sliding it over to her.

When he started pulling his hand away Lorelai grabbed it to hold. "And can you make me a huge cheeseburger? I am starving."

He leaned on the counter towards her while keeping his hand intertwined with her's. "Let me put lettuce on it and you've got a deal."

"One leaf, that's it."

"Coming right up." He lifted her hand and kissed it gently before he released it, not only shocking everyone in the diner but Lorelai too.

Kirk stood up from his stool and left the diner, Lorelai turned and they both watched as he ran up to everyone he saw explaining what he had saw. Lorelai smiled widely turning back towards Luke. "Told you that would work."

"Oh, I never doubted you." He said with a smile. "Any regards yet?"

She shook her head. "Not yet."

"Even after I tell you Miss Patty and Babette are heading towards the diner?" Luke asked, she turned around and saw the two women shoving their way into the diner and hurried over to Lorelai.

"Let me see the hand!" Babette yelled, Lorelai held out her left hand showing off the ring.

Miss Patty grabbed her hand turning it to get a good view of the ring. "Oh my god, it's beautiful."

"You two are engaged?" Babette asked, looking back and forth between Luke and Lorelai.

"As of Saturday morning." Lorelai said.

"How did this happen?" Patty asked. "I didn't even know you two were together."

"We've been dating for two months but we wanted to wait till things were serious before we started telling people."

"Congrats Sugah, we all knew this would happen someday." Babette said jabbing at Lorelai's arm, Lorelai glanced over at Luke as they both turned a light shade of red.

"We need all the details!" Patty said, pulling Lorelai over to a table with them.

"I'm gonna go get started on your burger. Luke said while she got dragged off.

She went over all the details they had come up with about how they got together and how Luke proposed, the ladies listened in awe the whole time.

"That is so sweet." Patty said as Luke walked up to their table with Lorelai's food, she looked up at Luke and placed her hand on his arm. "You are a very good man, Luke Danes." Lorelai smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up, he set her plate in front of her and before he could break away Babette spoke up.

"Are you two going to buy a house together?"

Lorelai looked over at Luke, she remembered he had brought up to Anna that he was going to move in with her once everyone knew. "Actually, Luke's gonna move in with Rory and I."

"We're going to be neighbors?" Babette asked Luke excitedly.

"Ah, yeah we are." Luke said.

"When?" Patty asked.

"This weekend." Lorelai said unsurely, Luke looked over at her surprised.

"I'm so happy for the both of you."

"Thank you."

"We'll leave you eat, we got lots to do tonight after the big news." Patty said then they said their goodbyes before they left, Luke looked around at the now empty diner then pulled out a chair at her table at sat down.

"This weekend?" He asked.

"I didn't know what to say, I knew you brought up the moving in thing to Anna so I just went with that."

"I guess we should figure out how to make it look like I live there. I was thinking I could bring some things over to leave lying around and I could have my truck parked outside at night, I'll just sneak home by foot once Babette is asleep then back to your house before she wakes up."

"That sounds like a lot of work, you are going to be exhausted."

"It won't be for that long, I can handle it."

"We have a perfectly good couch in the living room you can sleep on." She paused. "Actually that is an overstatement, it's lumpy and smells like popcorn. But it would be much easier than running back and forth everyday."

"So basically I would be moving in with you?"

"Think of it more as a long term slumber party."

"Won't that be weird? And how would Rory feel about that?"

"Rory won't mind, she's very comfortable around you. And I don't think it's any weirder than everything that's going on already."

"I'm moving in?"

"Just think of all the movie nights we can have."

"I'd rather not."

"We will have to figure out a few living arrangements first so we don't freak out Rory."

"Okay, how so?"

"Well if you sleep in the buff that could be a problem."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I do not sleep naked."

"So those boxers with the funny designs?"

"I sleep fully clothed."

"You actually sleep in your flannel and jeans, why does this not surprise me?" She teased.

"I sleep in sweatpants and a tee shirt."

"Good, good. And the bathroom situation, Rory uses the one downstairs and she gets weird if guys use it because she's got all her girly stuff in there."

"I can go in your bushes outside, it will probably be the first time since you lived there that they get watered."

"Haha funny guy, you can use my bathroom upstairs unless you want to give Babette a nice picture for her christmas cards. What time do you shower at? Because I have to use it at seven."

"I shower at four-thirty, but I can just come back to my apartment to do that."

"I'm not even awake then and I can sleep through anything so the shower won't bother me, it would be a lot easier than you running back here early to get ready."

"Alright, but you don't play any stupid pranks like switching out shampoo for glue or anything like that, do you?"

"I didn't plan on it, but you are giving me some great ideas here."

"Anything else?"

"Put my toilet seat down when you are done and that should be it."

"I shared a bathroom with Liz for years so I know the drill."

"Anything you are wondering?"

"What should I pack? Is there even room for any of my stuff there?"

"I'll have Rory help me clean out the downstairs closet for you to use and you can keep your clothes and stuff in there."

"Sounds good, just one more question."

"Shot."

"Do you sleep in the buff?" He asked with a smirk.

Lorelai smiled, shaking her head at him. "Goodbye, Luke." She said as she stood up to leave.

"That's a yes, isn't it?"

"I guess you will have to find out this weekend." She said with a wink, she walked out of the diner and got into her car to go home. She was surprised how well their plan had worked out already, the whole town would know within the hour and tomorrow Anna would hear the news that Luke was engaged to her from her friends. She had a feeling this was gonna work, she knew it was going to be one crazy ride but after today she was actually kind of excited for it.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Again I appreciate the amount of feedback I've already gotten on this story, and I love hearing what everyone has to say about it so far. I can't wait to continue to share everything I have in store with all of you, and the impatient part of me keeps wanting to post them quicker, but I want to make it last longer. Let me know what you think of the third chapter, enjoy!

Luke stepped into his apartment closing the door behind him and walked to the bedroom portion of his place then opened up his closet. He unbuttoned his flannel that had a work day's worth of grease on it, took it off and threw it into his hamper then grabbed a fresh one to replace it with. Today had been the first day after the whole town heard of the news of his and Lorelai's "engagement" and he thought it would be best for him to hide out in the kitchen to avoid any questions they might try to ask him, luckily the only thing he got was a congratulations when he tried to sneak upstairs for lunch. He shut his closet door and walked over to the kitchen grabbing his phone off the wall then sat down in one of his dining chairs, it was time for his first call with Anna since he had talked with her at her house and he was partly worried that his engagement news wouldn't be enough to change her mind. He dialed her number and held to phone up to his ear, it rang a few times before he heard Anna pick up on the other end.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Ah, hi. It's me.. Me as in Luke that is." He said awkwardly.

She chuckled lightly over the phone. "I figured it was you by the voice."

"Yeah, thats right." He said putting his hand on his forehead and pausing a moment.

"I heard the news about your engagement."

"Oh, yeah. We decided to just to go for it and tell them, they seemed to have taken it pretty well."

"Seems like they were all ecstatic about it, they said it's about time you two finally got together."

"The town may have noticed over the years feeling that we kind of ignored, I guess everyone knew that we loved each other before we did."

"I'm really happy for you Luke, I'm glad you could find someone to change for. And I hope you know why I kept April from you, I wanted to be sure you wouldn't let her down after everything I went through with my father."

"I know that you had good intentions in mind but I still am upset that I had to miss seven years with my daughter." Luke paused. "And I'd really like to get to know her now."

"Can I come by the diner next week, we could sit down and discuss some things so I can make sure you are truly ready for this."

"I am ready for this, you don't know how sure I am about this."

"But just for my peace of mind. And if all goes well we can talk about a time for you two to meet, formally, not just in a shopping aisle."

"What day works for you?"

"I work while April is at school but she has swim lessons Thursday. I could come by while she is there, say three o'clock?"

"That works for me, I'll see you at the diner, Thursday at three."

"See you then, bye Luke."

"Bye." Luke said then hung up his phone, he walked back downstairs into the diner to finish putting up chairs. Once he was done he started to head towards the stairs when he looked over at an unfinished pan of pie in his display case, he walked over and lifted the lid grabbing it out then he left out the diner door to his car. He drove the way to the Gilmore house and knocked on the door, Lorelai opened the door with her face shoved in her arm as she sneezed several times.

"Hi." Lorelai said, sniffling her nose.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked concerned.

"I'm fine, just got dusk in my nose." She glanced down at the pan he was carrying. "Is that pie?"

"Yeah, I had some leftover boysenberry at the diner and I knew if I brought it here it would not go to waste."

"You'd be correct about that my friend." Lorelai said, grabbing the pan out of his hands. "You want to come in?"

"Sure." He said then walked into the house, he followed her towards the kitchen and stopped shy of it when he saw Rory on the floor in front of the hallway closet, going through boxes.

"Hi Luke." Rory said while she sorted through a box of hats.

"Geez, you two have enough hats?" Luke asked, looking at the box filled full of them.

"I wouldn't think we'd be getting hat hate from you, mister backwards baseball cap." Lorelai said.

"I wear a hat every day and I only own three, you two wear them like ten times a year and have at least thirty in that box."

"Thirty-two actually." Rory said as she put a straw boater hat on.

Luke reached in the box and pulled out two black fedoras. "When have you ever wore these?"

"When we watch The Blues Brothers, duh." Lorelai said.

"Usually I'm Elwood and mom is Jake but sometimes we switch off for fun."

"That does sound like fun." Luke said dryly then he set the hats back it the box.

"Hey, if you know how to play a harmonica you can join in next time." Lorelai suggested.

"Luckily I don't."

Rory reached into the closet and pulled out a medium sized box. "What do we want to do with the box of marbles?"

"You're kidding right?" Luke asked. "Why do you have that many marbles?"

"We used to collect them."

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"It was when we lived at the inn and we didn't know very many people so we got bored sometimes." Lorelai explained.

"We made up a bunch of games with them and we used them to make my math homework more fun." Rory said.

"And they really came in handy when Rory hit her pranking phase age."

"I did not hit a pranking age, I hit an age where you felt I was old enough to watch you pull them then use my cuteness to get yourself out of trouble."

Luke looked over at Lorelai. "I'm reconsidering leaving my shampoo in your bathroom."

Lorelai swung her hand. "That was ages ago, we don't do that kind of stuff anymore."

He nodded, not fully believing her. "Here, let me take the pie into the kitchen and cut you two a piece, you look like you could use a break." Luke said grabbing the pan back from Lorelai before walking into the kitchen.

Rory tilted the box of marbles towards Lorelai. "So what are we doing with these?"

"I'll put them in my closet, I have some plans involving them and Michel's shoes."

"He will know it is you after the last time."

"Him knowing won't make it any less fun for me." She picked up the box and ran it upstairs to her bedroom closet, after she had it put away she walked over to her mirror. She looked at her reflection and fixed a few strands of her hair before running back downstairs. She walked over to the couch that Rory was already resting on and flopped down next to her, seconds later Luke walked out with two plates.

"I found some vanilla ice cream in your freezer so I put a few scoops on the side." He said, handing them each a plate.

"Thanks sweetie." Lorelai teased.

Rory joined in. "Thank you, daddy."

"Are you two going to stop doing that at any point?" Luke asked.

Lorelai smirked. "Not anytime soon, hun."

"You gonna sit down, papa?" Rory asked, patting on the chair next to them.

Luke shook his head then took a seat in the chair. "You two are a lot of work."

Lorelai smiled as she took a bite of her pie. "How did your talk with Anna go today?"

"Pretty good I think, things are still unclear but she said she'd like to meet at the diner Thursday to talk about some stuff before she decides if I should be meeting April just yet."

"Didn't she hear about the engagement?" Lorelai asked. "Isn't that enough to show her you changed?"

"She wants to be sure we are doing the right thing."

"The right thing would have been telling you eight years ago."

"She is just really cautious about who is apart of April's life, it's really her father's fault. She has this amazing relationship with her mom but her dad never seemed to care that much about her, he'd roll into town every now and then when Anna was a kid, getting her hopes up but once things didn't work out with her mother he was gone without a word." Luke explained, Rory glanced over at Lorelai then stared down at her plate. "I understand that she didn't want that for April, and I may have seemed like the person who wouldn't be a good father to her so she couldn't take her chances. I know that I could have been a good dad and I would have been there for April but she didn't."

"You still deserved a chance, how much better is April probably feeling thinking that her dad never wanted to know her?"

"I'm really hoping she isn't too hurt, I couldn't handle disappointing her."

Lorelai chuckled. "If you want to be a parent you might as well get used to disappointing your kid, because it happens even when you aren't trying to."

Rory turned facing Lorelai. "You never disapointed me."

"Oh yeah, what about when I told you you couldn't marry Fred from Scooby-Doo, because he was a cartoon character?"

"You're right, that one still stings to this day." Rory said, pretending to be hurt.

"Or when I accidentally set up your first date with Dean."

"That was pretty embarrassing."

"See Luke, disappointment all over and we are fine." Lorelai said, pointing to her and Rory. "And your parents had to have disappointed you sometimes, I know mine did and I still love them." She tilted her head. "For the most part."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Luke said with a nod. "But I would like to avoid it for as long as possible."

"You're going to be a great dad Luke, and once April gets to know you she will love you." Rory said making Luke smile.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Thank you both, you're making this a lot easier on me."

"No problem, Rory always wanted a little sister." Lorelai teased.

"I may have spoke too soon."

"and a little brother." Rory said.

"Hear that babe, we better get working on it." Lorelai said making him blush.

"Geez." He groaned.

Rory turned to Lorelai with a smile. "This is going to be fun."

"Like a new toy." Lorelai said with a laugh.

"Alright, I'm gonna take this pie somewhere we can be alone." Rory said getting off of the couch.

"You're gonna read to it, aren't you?"

"It won't be around long enough to hear much of the story." Rory said taking a bite as she walked away.

"No boysenberry on the pages this time!" Lorelai yelled as she left the room.

"How's it going with her, is she okay with me staying here?" Luke asked.

"Are you kidding me? I have never seen her clean out a closet quicker, if the military trunk wasn't so heavy it'd be empty already."

"You have a military trunk?"

"I needed something to put my scarfs in."

"Ah, makes sense." Luke said sarcastically. "I wouldn't think Rory would be so happy with some guy staying on her couch."

"You aren't just some guy, you're our friend and we-" Lorelai paused. "she loves you."

"She does?" Luke asked surprised.

"You may not like to hear this but a lot of people around here love you, why do you think they were so excited to hear you were fake engaged?"

"Because they are all crazy."

"Face it Luke, you're loved."

"Shut up."

Lorelai smiled. "And with charm like that, how could they not be?"

"I should probably get going, I have to start packing before the big move tomorrow." Luke said as he stood up from the chair.

"You sure you don't want to stick around, see how many more things we own will repulse you?"

"As much fun as that would be I should really start getting my stuff together, besides you should enjoy a Luke free night while you can."

"There is no enjoyment in a Luke free night."

"See if you say that a few days from now, you are gonna get sick of me being around all the time."

"Not possible, it will be you who gets sick of us."

Luke smiled at her. "That won't happen."

"I give you two days before you are curled up in the corner of the room, rocking yourself back and forth while Rory and I dance around the room singing "Shake a Tail Feather" at the top of our lungs."

"I'll just pack some earplugs."

"Good thinking." Lorelai said then he started to leave the room. "Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?" He asked, turning back to her.

"Do you have any use for a military trunk?"

"I'll move it tomorrow when I get here." Luke said and continued to walk away. "Night, Lorelai."

"Night, pumpkin." Lorelai said just before he got out the front door, she smiled then went back to eating her pie. "God, this is good."

The next morning Lorelai and Rory walked in the diner to get some breakfast, they saw Luke standing behind the counter so they walked over to him and sat at a couple stools.

"Morning, soon to be roomie." Lorelai said sweetly.

"Morning." Luke grunted out.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"People."

"People are wrong?"

"All morning people have been coming in here asking questions about the wedding. Where are we having it? Which flowers are we using? Will there a vegan option?"

"Oh, Stan was here?"

"They're telling me what days they would have conflict with, asking what the colors are because they want to go shopping and they don't want to clash, Kirk has offered his services for the wedding."

"What services?" Rory asked.

"I'm not really sure, I had stopped listening by the time he told me and I just said he could since it doesn't really matter anyways."

"Aren't I a lucky bride?" Lorelai joked.

"It hasn't stopped, all morning." Luke gestured towards Patty. "Miss Patty won't stop offering me dance lessons for the wedding!"

Lorelai turned back and looked at Patty. "Hey, keep your hands off my man."

Patty shrugged. "Can't blame a woman for trying."

"That I can't." Lorelai said then turned back to Luke.

"This town is unbelievable, I mean-"

Lorelai cut it. "Okay Luke, before this rant counties. We are gonna need some coffee, and we are gonna need some pancakes." She said pointing to her and Rory, he grabbed two cups and filled them with coffee.

"Caesar, I need two orders pancakes, meats on the side." Luke yelled to the kitchen, he slid the mugs over in front of them and Lorelai took a sip.

"Awe, I don't know why but it tastes so much better when it's free."

Rory took a sip and nodded. "It does have a certain quality the paid coffee didn't have."

"It makes me feel pampered, like I'm a queen."

Luke looked over at Lorelai. "It doesn't take much to impress you, does it?"

"Shush while the queen is talking."

"We should drink them with our pinkies up." Rory suggested then they both took a sip with their pinkies in the air.

"You know you're supposed to do that with tea, right?" Luke asked.

"The queen can drink whatever she wants." Lorelai defended. "She can go pinkies up with a bottle of whiskey if she feels like it."

"That's an image of the queen I didn't need." Rory said, setting down her coffee.

"I really should have come up with rules for this free stuff, like you couldn't reference to yourself as the queen and everything you ordered had to be healthy." Luke said.

Lorelai laughed. "Ha, you would have passed out from exhaustion before you got us to agree to that."

"If I'm going to be cooking dinner you will at least have to try one healthy meal."

"We get cooked dinners?" Rory asked with a smile.

"You're gonna cook us dinner?" Lorelai asked.

"It isn't that crazy, I cook food for you everyday." Luke pointed out.

"But never in our house."

"Does our stove even work?" Rory asked Lorelai.

"I kind of figured if I was staying there that I'd be cooking dinner sometimes, that's okay right?" Luke asked.

Lorelai and Rory shared a look then Lorelai turned back to Luke. "Will you marry me?"

"I've never had a home cooked meal." Rory said excited.

Luke looked over at Rory in shock. "That can't be true."

"Well I never had a meal cooked in our home."

"We are gonna need to get some pans." Lorelai said.

"I got it covered." Luke said. "I've seen inside your cabinets before so I knew I'd need to bring some."

"Looking in a women's cabinets before the move in day, isn't that bad luck?"

"I like to come prepared."

"Dirty!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm going to check on your food." He said before disappearing into the kitchen.

Rory turned to Lorelai. "What do you think Luke's home dinner is like?"

"It probably includes a lot of green stuff."

"Do you think we can talk him into making us pot roast?"

"I think we could wear him down." Lorelai said as Luke came back out, two plates in hand. He set them down in front of them and they both looked at their food.

"Whipped cream!" Lorelai squealed.

"And extra bacon!" Rory said, taking a bite.

"What possessed this?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"I figured I should keep you both happy since before you would just go home and your crabbiness would wear off before you came back, but now I'll be at your house so I can't really avoid it."

"You're a very smart man, Luke Danes. And we'd be less crabby if you brought us some chocolate chips."

"Already in the pancakes."

"I know." Lorelai said, Luke turned around grabbing the bag of chocolate chips and handed it to her. She pulled out a large handful and sprinkled in on the whipped cream then she did the same on Rory's. While they ate Luke kept working, they would chat with him anytime he was behind the counter and he would look at them with disgust when they asked for a donut after they had finished. Finally when they were all done Luke walked behind the counter and cleared off their plates.

"What time are you bringing your stuff over?" Lorelai asked Luke after he got back from the kitchen.

"I'm working till three then I can head right over."

Lorelai reached for her purse, she unzipped it and started to search through it as she talked. "I'm gonna be at the inn till five today but Rory should be home and just in case she isn't I made you this." She said, pulling a key out and handing it to him.

"You made me a key to your house?"

"It has little baseballs on it."

He glanced down at the key and smiled. "Are we are gonna pretend your house will actually be locked so I can use this?"

"Well I'm sure with you there it will be locked all the time."

"I should probably get a key too." Rory said.

"Got it covered." Lorelai said, handing her a key.

Rory looked at it and bounced excitedly in her seat like a little kid. "Oh, mine has little books on it!"

"I figured I needed one to so I got little doughnuts on mine." Lorelai said, showing off her key.

"Wait, you didn't have a house key before now?" Luke asked.

"Not with doughnuts on it, besides my copy stays in the turtle since we are bound to lose these."

"Do I just walk in when I get there or should I knock?"

"It would look pretty weird if you knocked."

"But what if you have someone over?"

"You know everyone we have over, worst case scenario you walk in on Rory and Dean making out in the foyer."

"Hey!" Rory said as she blushed.

"I don't want to walk in on that." Luke said.

"Just make a lot of key noises in the door before you open it and they will split apart." Lorelai suggested. "Unless they are too swept up to hear you."

"Okay, can we change the subject?" Rory asked.

"Please?" Luke pleaded.

"We gotta get going anyways, if I get to work early there is a four percent chance I'll actually be able to leave on time." Lorelai said as they stood up. "See you at home, baby cakes." She said as the two of them left.

Around three-thirty Luke reached The Crap Shack, he carried in several bags of stuff and set them on the foyer floor before walking further in.

"Rory, you here?" Luke yelled out threw the house but received no answer. He walked into the living room and noticed the couch set up with what must have been at least five layers of blankets, he got closer and noticed a piece of paper sitting on the coffee table labeled 'Luke's TV channel guide'. He lifted it up and read through it, they listed a bunch of sports and fishing channels and a cooking channel with a little caption underneath that read 'in case you need inspiration for our dinners'. He smiled setting it back down then he went and got his bags to start unpacking, he put away groceries he had brought and the set of pots and pans from his apartment into the cupboards. He opened up the hallway closet and hung his clothes up on hangers, he ended up setting up the military trunk as his dresser and put a laundry basket in the closet to use as his hamper. He stood up once he was finished and noticed a post it note on the inside door of the closet next to a tiny hook, he pulled it off and read it to himself. "In case by some slim chance your hat is off long enough to hang it." He smiled and pulled his hat off and hooked it onto the hook then threw the flannel he had on from work into his basket, he heard a knock at the door so he shut the closet and went to answer it.

"Hey Babette, Morey." Luke said to the couple standing on the porch.

"Hey Sugah, we thought with it being your first day and all we should bring over your welcome wagon."

Luke looked at the red wagon parked beside them then back up at them oddly. "I've lived in Stars Hollow my whole life."

"Not on this street." Morey said.

"And you've never lived with the Gilmore girls so we thought this would be perfect for you." Babette said then Morey handed Luke the handle of the wagon and he wheeled it towards him. "Welcome to the street."

"Thank you both, and tell everyone else thanks." Luke said sincerely.

"You know I will." Babette said as they walked away, Luke wheeled to wagon into the house and brought it over to the couch.

He took a seat and started peeking through the plastic, he pulled out a box with a set of new cooking pans and utensils, a spice rack, plaid oven mitts, vanilla candles which he took a moment to roll his eyes at, knowing why they put those in. There was a box homemade cookies with oatmeal ones included for him, a fruit basket clearly made for him, and bunch of movies that looked like they would interest all three of them. He set all the stuff on the coffee table and stared at it for awhile till Rory walked in the front door.

"Dad, I'm home." Rory joked as she walked into the living room smiling, he looked up at her and didn't say a word. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't think I can do this." Luke said in a serious tone.

"What?" Rory asked, walking closer to him.

"This." He said, peering around the room. "Moving in here, playing fake family, I don't think I can do it."

"Is this because I keep calling you dad? Because I can stop, I was just joking Luke."

"No, it's because of this." He pointed to the table full of stuff.

"You don't think you can do this because of Die Hard?" Rory asked, noticing the stack of movies on the table.

"No, because this crazy stupid town is bringing me a welcome wagon with stuff they hand picked with me in mind, and I'm lying straight to their faces."

Rory walked over and took a seat next to him on the couch. "I didn't realize you minded lying to the town, you always say they are a constant pain in your life."

"They are most of the time, but it doesn't mean I want to lie to them. I mean my parents taught me better than this, they told me to never lie for any reason and now look what I'm doing. I'm lying to everyone and if Anna decides to let me see April I will be lying to my kid too."

"You are a really good guy Luke and I think if your parents were here they would think the same thing. You want to be involved in April's life so badly that you would do anything you can, you are jumping through every hoop and going through every obstacles just to meet her. It isn't an option for you just to pick up the phone and give her a call, some dads don't even do it when it is that easy. This girl is so lucky to have a dad like you that will fight for her, I was I did."

"You know your mom would do everything times a million for you if she had to."

"I know, but sometimes I just wish he felt the same way."

"Well, he's a complete idiot if he doesn't. But he has meet you so I'm sure he feels it too, he just sucks at showing it."

"Mom always says the same thing."

"See, and your mom is always right. At least that's what she tells me all the time." He said, earning a laugh from Rory. "I was thinking I'd make spaghetti tonight, how does that sound?"

"You are staying?"

"Can't let perfectly good pans go to waste." He said then she unexpectedly pulled him into a hug, he patted her on the back. "So the spaghetti?"

Rory pulled away from the hug with a chuckle. "Spaghetti sounds perfect." She said then they both stood up, Luke picked up the new box of pans. "Can I help?" She asked as they walked to the kitchen.

"Yeah, of course. You have a fire extinguisher, right?"

"We had two, but we got rid of them around the same time we got rid of our computer chairs."

"Wait, you and your mom sitting on chairs, racing down the street in the middle of the night with fire extinguishers wasn't a dream?" Luke asked as he starting pulling the new pans out.

"I won." Rory said proudly.

"Just when I think the two of you can't get any crazier."

"We like to keep you on your toes.. So, what do you want me to do?"

"You can help, but you should probably avoid the stove as much as possible." Luke grabbed a loaf of french bread off the counter. "You want to make the garlic bread?"

"Sounds easy enough." She said, taking it out of his hands.

Lorelai got home from work and walked into the foyer taking her coat, the first thing she noticed was the aroma of food. She smiled walking towards the kitchen and she is about to say something when she heard Luke and Rory talking.

"How small do I cut the tomatoes?" Rory asked.

"How small do you guys like them?" Luke asked back.

"Mom usually just picks them out."

"Then take a spoon to them and start mashing away."

Rory opened the silverware drawer and grabbed out the utensil the started squishing them. "This is fun."

"You're a natural at smashing tomatoes."

"That's going on the college application." Rory said as she finished smashing the remainder of them.

"Okay, now knock all the mush into the pan and stir." He said then she lifted up the plate and used her spoon to push it into the pan before stirring it in. "Now we let it cook another ten minutes and everything should be done by then."

"I can't believe I helped cook dinner and it was actually fun." Rory said in a surprised tone. "You are a really good at this, where did you learn to cook?"

"My mother taught me, she was really into cooking and did it whenever she got the chance." He explained as he started setting the table. "My dad wasn't the type of guy who cared about what kind of food was on the dinner plate or at what time, but he loved whatever she made something. And even though he wasn't a big fan of cooking she talked him into joining her a few times, that's actually how I started. I was about six years old and they were both in the kitchen cooking, and I was feeling a little left out so I asked if I could help. My mom had me make the cole sole and I still remember how exciting it was mixing everything together, it was so colorful and it wasn't like anything I had done before. After that I'd go into the kitchen every time my mom was cooking and see what I could make next, she started out by giving me easy stuff like mashed potatoes or the salads but by the time I was nine I was making meals just like this."

"That's crazy, I can barely imagine cooking now let only being a nine year old doing it."

"Well you were into learning, I bet at nine you were reading books I wouldn't understand if I read them now."

"You probably could, you are a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"I'll show you my grades from school and you might not think that way."

"You couldn't have gotten anything much lower than a B."

"How would you know that?"

"Stars Hollow High is very strict about their grade point average, you have to have a 3.0 GPA to play sports and I happen to know you were a star on the track team."

Luke thought back a moment. "When did I tell you I was on the track team?"

"You didn't have to, they have a few of your old pictures hanging at the school."

"Which ones?"

"Short shorts." Rory said with a snicker.

"Geez, don't they need permission to use those?"

"I guess not, butch."

"Please don't tell your mom about this, I'll never hear the end of it."

"I've kept your secret quiet this long, should be pretty easy to continue now that I don't go there."

"Thank you." Luke said as he finished setting the table.

"I should call mom and see when she will be home."

Lorelai looked down at the cell phone in her hands, she backed away quietly walking to the door. She opened it, and shut it, pretending as if she had just entered then she starting walking down the hallway. "Hello, anybody home?"

"Speak of the devil." Luke said as she got to the kitchen.

"My god, what smells so good?" Lorelai asked, looking around the kitchen.

"We made spaghetti." Rory said.

Lorelai fake gasped. "We?"

"She made most of it, I just stood there and made sure she didn't burn the house down." Luke said.

"My daughter cooking, you are such a bad influence on her. Next thing you know I'm gonna come into the house and she will be under the counter fixing the sink."

"Don't count on that happening anytime soon." Rory said with a laugh.

Lorelai walked further into the kitchen and looked at the food cooking on the stove. "Did you really make this or are you two messing with me?"

"She made it." Luke said, gesturing to Rory.

"I was only gonna make the garlic bread but all the dicing and stirring caught my eye."

"Well it smells amazing." Lorelai said, sniffing near the stove.

"It should be ready in about five minutes." Luke said.

"Perfect, I have time to change into my spaghetti clothes."

"You don't have to have wear a bib, do you?"

"No, I stopped using those a few years ago." Lorelai said as she left the room and ran upstairs, truthfully she would have been fine eating in the clothes she was already wearing but she was sure after her day of work she probably looked like a mess. She shuffled through her closet and picked out her red danger tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans, when she got to her mirror she pinned the sides of her hair up behind her ears and reapplied the same lip gloss she had put on this morning. She gave one last look making making sure everything looked good then she went back downstairs and joined them in the kitchen.

"Good timing, I just got the mountain of spaghetti on your plate." Luke said, handing her the plate of food.

"Thanks." She said and took a seat at the table, Rory sat down next to her and she looked over at Luke waiting for him to join them. She had never had a man over for dinner before, well Dean had joined them before but that was usually pizza in front of the television.

"You going to try it?" Rory asked, Lorelai took her gaze off Luke who was now sitting down and looked over at her.

"I don't know, if you really did make this shouldn't I be worried about chipping a tooth?"

"You underestimate my cooking skills too much if you think I could make spaghetti hard enough to chip a tooth on."

"Okay, here goes nothing." Lorelai said and took a bit, it was soon followed by an mhmm sound. "Rory, this is amazing."

"Really?" Rory asked hopefully then she took a bite. "Oh, it is good!"

"I can't believe you made this."

"Well only because of Luke."

"I think you would have done fine on your own, you did everything perfectly." Luke defended.

"Trust me, if I had tried on my own the taste would have resembled the mud pie I made mom when I was six."

Lorelai smiled. "As disgusting as it was, I still find it cute that you thought you had to use actual mud."

"Either way this turned out great, you did a really good job." Luke congratulated. "Next time if you try making a new dish it won't seem as hard now that you got the basics down."

"I think I'll stick with spaghetti for awhile, I don't want to test my luck."

"That's probably a good idea, at least till you get used to all the cooking utensils so I don't have you trying to throw away my slotted spoon again."

"It had holes in it, how was I supposed to know they were meant to be there?"

"Don't they have home ec. at that fancy school of yours?"

"No, private school kids don't need to know how to cook." Lorelai stated. "They do however have a class on how to order a maid around properly."

"We have them at Chilton but it isn't mandatory, I never thought I would like cooking." Rory explained. "Not till today anyways."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Luke said and they all took a few bites of their food.

Rory glanced over at Luke, who was watching Lorelai trying to pick the one tomato piece in the whole pile out with her fork. When she finally got it she flicked it off, shooting it at Luke. "Hey, play nice or I'll take your plate away."

"Okay, mom." Lorelai said in a pout, Luke rolled his eyes and pushed the tomato off his arm.

"I was thinking since it's Luke first night and all we could do a movie marathon." Rory suggested. "We have all those new movies from the wagon."

Lorelai looked over at Luke. "You got welcome wagoned?"

"Babette and Morey brought it over awhile after I got here."

"Isn't that only for people that are new to the town?"

"They said I was new to the street."

"What was in it?"

"Ah movies, stuff for the kitchen, some homemade cookies-."

Rory cut in. "Homemade cookies? Why didn't I see those when you showed me what you got?"

"I hide them while you were putting the garlic bread in the oven, I didn't want you wouldn't spoil your dinner."

"They gave you good stuff." Lorelai said surprised. "I think the last time a new comer got that nice of a wagon was when Rory and I moved into the house."

"Yeah, because you heard they gave them out so you brought me around town and had me introduce myself to everyone in that cute little blue dress." Rory said.

"And because of that you got mini cupcakes and a gift certificate to the bookstore, you should be thanking me."

"I was traumatized, I got my cheeks pinched so many times that it hurt to lay on my pillow."

"They couldn't help it that your cheeks were so adorable they had to pinch them." Lorelai said as she reached over and squeezed her face.

"Okay, get off me." Rory said, swatting her hand away. "What do you think, Luke. You want to watch a few movies before bed?"

Luke nodded. "Sure, I can't promise I'll stay awake through them. I have to get up early and open the diner tomorrow."

"Splash some cold water in your face, grandpa. There is no sleeping during a Gilmore movie night marathon." Lorelai said.

"I will try my best to stay awake." Luke promised.

Once they were all finished eating dinner they got set up in the living room for their movies, they decided on watching all three Die Hards. The girls did their usual commentary and took out most of the cookies the town had gave them before they were even halfway through the films. When the ending credits of the second movie started Rory glanced over at Luke, who had fallen asleep against the arm he had propped up on the end of the couch.

"Mom, we have a soldier down." Rory said, Lorelai looked over and smiled. "He tried so hard to make it."

"I'll wake him up, we still got one more movie."

"Mom, no. He's tired and he has to be up early."

"Fine, we will let the baby sleep."

"I should get to bed anyways, Lane wants me to sneak to her house while her and Missus Kim are at church to sign for a new stereo she ordered." Rory said giving Lorelai a kiss on the cheek, they said their good nights then she headed to her bedroom.

Lorelai picked up the television remote and turned off the movie, she stood up and picked up some wrappers on the coffee table then walked into the kitchen disposing of them. She got out a cup and filled it with water before finding her way back out to the living room and setting the glass on the coffee table. She stood there a moment and watched him sleeping, he looked so peacefully, like he had slept there a million times before. She smirked then his eyes opened making her jump slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake up. I was putting a water out here in case in the morning you were worried you couldn't drink any."

"Thanks." He said as he sat up slowly, he grabbed the glass and took a quick sip before setting it back down.

"I'm going upstairs so I guess I'll probably see you tomorrow sometime, not here because I won't be awake when you leave, but at the diner when Rory and I come for breakfast." She rambled.

"Lorelai." He said, looking up at her with his tired eyes. "You are sure you want me sleeping here? I can still walk home if it's gonna bother you."

"No, no way." She shook her head. "It doesn't bother me at all."

"As long as you're sure."

"I am, really Luke. It's nice having you here."

"Really?" Luke asked with a smirk.

"Yes, Rory would have never gotten up and grabbed me a soda during the movie like you did." Lorelai teased.

"Nice to know I'm good for something."

Lorelai smiled at him. "Good night, Luke."

"Night, Lorelai." He said then she turned towards the steps and went upstairs to her bedroom.

She wasn't lying when she said she didn't mind him being there, in fact it was fun having him around. She assumed it would be weird having anyone staying at the house, after all it had just been Rory and her for so many years now. But all the worry she had felt drifted away seconds after she got home and saw him cooking with Rory, she knew there was nothing to feel weird about with being there, if anything she felt more comfortable having someone at the house who would protect them. Maybe playing pretend fiancee wasn't going to be as hard as she thought, she'd only have to wait and see what would happen once Anna and April were in the picture.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews on my previous chapter, I always love hearing about what you all have to say. A warning that this chapter was pretty lazily written, I wrote the first seven chapters in three days and I remember being eager to get to the next few chapters so I wrote it quick with plans to go back and fix it up but I never found the time. Let me know what you think anyways and enjoy!

Thursday came around quicker than Luke would have thought, he had already spent five days at the Gilmore house. Five days of getting off work, going to their house, cooking dinner then spending the evenings with the two of them sprawled out in their living room, watching movies. He was never a big television fan, unless it was baseball. But with them it was actually pretty fun, he would never admit it to them but he enjoyed their commentary throughout the movies and it brought him even more joy watching the girls give Dean death stares all night after his comments to The Donna Reed Show. And although their couch was unbelievable lumpy, Rory had continued to bring out more blankets every night to make it better. And well the last few days may have been easy, today was the real test. Later on Anna would be coming in the diner and he would have to prove to her that he was ready to be a part of Aprils life.

"Lukeee!" Lorelai said as she and Rory sat at a table in the diner. "We need coffee." He grabbed the pot and walked over to their table, filling up both their cups. "Hi, can you take a little constructive criticism?"

He pretended he was thinking a moment. "No."

"Okay, this place could use a makeover."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, it just needs a sprucing up." She looked around. "Like a coat of paint."

"I don't spruce."

"What do you mean you don't spruce?"

Taylor walked over, cutting in. "What he means is he won't spruce, that's what he means."

"Taylor, do not start." Luke warned.

"Me and the rest of the town beautification committee have been hounding him for years to freshen up the place. Maybe a couple of nice zinnia pots out front, some yellow awnings, a peppy little cardboard pig announcing the specials, but he's a mule. He won't talk, he won't reason, he won't spruce. You might as well forget it, Lorelai. I'm forgetting it too."

"Finally a Taylor Doose position I can get behind."

"Faded paint is a bad reflection on the whole town."

"Whatever happened to giving up?"

"When standards slip, families flee and in comes the seedy crowd. You got trouble, my friends."

Lorelai chimed in. "Right here in River City!"

"This is not funny, Lorelai."

"Does anyone want anything?" Luke asked, trying to change the subject.

"Uh, yes, I do." Lorelai said. "I want to know why you won't paint this place?"

"Painting's a pain. I'd have to close the place for a day, which I can't afford. Or paint it in the middle of the night, which I don't want to do because I hate painting."

"Okay, how about this? You let your lovely fiancee help, I love to paint."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do."

"You love it?"

"I want to marry it, almost as much as I want to marry you."

"You have strange passions."

Rory chimed in. "She likes washing dishes too, she's multi-faceted abnormal."

"I've noticed."

"Ah, come on." Lorelai pleaded. "We'll drink a couple beers, we'll sing painting songs."

"Painting songs?"

"Yeah, painting songs. Like, uh, you know. The song that goes, um." Lorelai started to sing. "Grab your brush and grab your rollers, all you kids and all you." She paused, thinking of a word. "Bowlers. We're going paintin' today!" She stopped singing and smiled at him. "Say yes or there's another verse."

"Well, I guess maybe, if I had help."

"Really?" Taylor said happily. "Oh my God, that's wonderful! Hurrah!"

"Taylor, it's not for you. It's for us." He pointed between him and the girls.

"I can't wait to tell the rest of the committee, they're not going to believe this." Taylor said as he left the diner.

"I hate that he's pleased."

Lorelai waved her hand. "Ah, you'll drop a gum wrapper on the street in front of his store later."

"Yeah, good idea."

"Hey, why don't you sit with us awhile if you aren't too busy." Lorelai suggested.

"I guess I have a few minutes." Luke said and took a seat at the table with them.

"How you feeling today?"

"A little queasy." Luke admitted.

"Why?" Rory asked. "You are going to do great. She will see how serious you are about this and she'll let you see April."

"It's just," He paused. "I keep thinking I won't be able to pull off pretending I have changed, what if she sees right through it."

"She won't." Lorelai said, putting a sympathetic hand on Luke's arm. "You have done fine so far, you have to stop getting inside your head and thinking you can't do it."

"I know, I'm trying. It will be easily once I know if I can see her, the waiting and wondering is what bothers me."

"You only have to wait a few more hours, and I'll come here later with some paint swatches. We can pick a color and celebrate, then you will see you had nothing to be worried about."

"Yeah." Luke said with a nod. He didn't quite believe things would go well yet but the girls definitely eased his mind some and after what felt like an eternity the clock hit three o'clock. He watched the door a few minutes when Anna walked inside. "Anna, hey." He said as he made his way to the door.

"Hi Luke." She said kindly, he stood there silent a moment.

"Ah, come sit." He said, gesturing to a table. They both walked over and took a seat across from each other.

Anna glanced around the room. "The diner looks really great, Luke. I was here when you opened it, remember?"

"I remember, feels like forever ago when I started this place."

"It looks the same, little more wear than in the beginning but still great."

"I'm actually painting it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Lorelai is coming in later and we are going to pick out the colors."

"Are you painting it or having someone do it?"

"I am, she's gonna help but I'll probably end up doing most of it."

"So that is going well for you, now that you have your relationship out in the open? I mean, I know this town can get pretty nosey."

"It's going good, they went from asking about fifty probing questions a day to about twenty so things are looking up."

"And you moved in together?"

"Yes, this past weekend."

"And that's working out?"

"Yeah, it's been great being there with the both of them. We've have a lot of movie nights since the big move."

"Her daughter-" Anna paused.

"Rory."

"Rory, Rory is okay with you living there? I know it can be tough for children of divorce to see their parent with another person."

"She's okay with it, Lorelai and Rory's dad were never married and he wasn't really around ever. I'm not acting like I'm filling her dad's role but I make sure she knows I'm there if she needs me. I'm actually teaching her to cook a little bit, she made a spaghetti dish the other night."

"If anyone could teach her it would be you, I remember I couldn't fry an egg before I met you."

"Well she's a great kid so she makes it easy."

"And Lorelai, your fiancee. Has she been married before?"

"No, I'll be the first." Luke paused. "And only, hopefully." He said and she chuckled. "Lorelai has been really picky about her relationships always, if it wasn't right she would end it."

"And you two are right?"

"Yeah, we are." He said with a smile.

"I'm glad to hear it, it seems like she is doing you a lot of good."

"She definitely is."

Anna paused a moment before speaking again. "I told April I was coming to see you today, I wasn't going to till I had a chance to talk with you but she recognized you in an old photo. The one when we went to Wadsworth Falls."

"The first time we went when we forgot to check the weather and it started to storm or the second time?"

"The second time, when it was so beautiful out we stayed for hours." Anna said with a smile. "I had the date written on the back of the photo and being the little genius April is she started to put things together, she asked me if we dated and when I told her we had she asked if you were her dad."

Luke's eyes widened and he nodded. "She is a little genius." He paused. "What did you tell her?"

"I couldn't lie to her, I told her that you are her dad. She already knew you didn't know about her but I told her you knew now and wanted to meet her."

"What did she say?"

"She asked if you were an astronaut, she said she always imagined her dad being an astronaut." Anna said with a laugh.

"She must have been disappointed when you told her I run a diner."

"Not disappointed. She was actually pretty excited because she loves diners, they fascinate her."

"If she was excited about that does it mean she wants to meet me?"

"I told her it was her choice if she wanted to meet you, she said she wanted to."

"So I get to see her?"

"You can see her." Anna said making Luke smile. "But Luke, you have to promise me that once you are in it, you are in it for good. She needs stability and I can't have you not being fully committed or changing your mind."

"Anna, I promise you, I am in it." Luke answered seriously.

"Okay, would Saturday work for you?"

"Saturday is perfect."

"We could be here around noon."

"Here?" Luke asked, pointing at the table. "Here at the diner?"

"Yeah. That's okay, right?"

"Yes, of course. I'm just worried everyone here is going to spook her, I wasn't planning on telling anybody about her till I knew what we were doing and once they find out they might charge at us."

"I'll tell my friends to get the word around before Saturday, and that they can't charge April when she comes to visit, or you for that matter."

"Thank you."

"No problem." Anna said standing up from her chair. "See you Saturday, Luke."

He waved her goodbye before she opened the door and left, he took a deep breath out letting his head fall back slightly. The first phase of getting into his daughter's life was complete, he now had plans to spend some time with her. He was happy but he couldn't help feeling scared something would still go wrong, but for now he was going to think of it as a victory. He stood up and walked straight to the diner phone, picking it up and calling Lorelai's cell.

"I have been dying to know, how did it go?" Lorelai asked eagerly from the other line.

"It went good actually, April is coming here Saturday."

"You see, I told you you had nothing to worry about."

"Well she hasn't meet the town yet, there is still a lot to worry about. Including scarring her for life."

"Are you letting her meet everybody when she comes?"

"I'll have to, she wants to see the diner. Apparently diners fascinate her."

"That's good, at least you know she likes what you do."

"Yeah-" Luke stopped when he heard Michel talking to Lorelai in the background about taking personal calls at work.

"It isn't a personal call, Michel. I'm talking to the linen guy." Luke listened as he tried to get her to add more things to their next order because some kid spilt grape juice on the bed. "I'll tell him.. Can we also get an extra set of sheets and a couple pillow cases."

"It's gonna cost you extra." Luke teased. "I'll let you get back to work."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Bye."

"Bye Luke." Lorelai said and in the background before she hung up Michel yelled 'I knew it!'

Later on that evening Lorelai came by the diner with paint swatches and several bottles of beer to celebrate with, the two spent a couple hour looking through colors and after Luke explained he didn't want his diner to look like a French bistro or a golden Tuscan countryside they had finally settled on a color similar to the ones he already had but with a richer tone. The night didn't go interrupted from the townspeople, Kirk had been in earlier complaining that he had lost the bet because of him and minutes before Andrew came in with a camera trying to take before pictures. Somewhere between then and now Luke got Lorelai to get on the floor and read an order his father had written on the wall, she told him they wouldn't spurse particular spot. He agreed then they sat there a second looking at each other without saying a word, she wasn't certain but she could have sworn he was leaning towards her when they were interrupted by a group of people outside.

"Oh, geez." Luke said and started to stand up, Lorelai grabbed onto him keeping him on the floor.

"No, no, don't get up." She commanded.

"But if I don't get up-"

She cut him off. "They'll go away. They'll go away, trust me."

Taylor attempted to opened the door but it was locked, he knocked on the window but they stayed still. "What are they doing? They should be in there." He said looking inside. "Just imagine it all in pastels, the whole thing." He told the group as they all walked away.

"Thank you." Luke said softly next to Lorelai's ear, she looked over and caught his eyes immediately. She wasn't sure when he had gotten so close to her but now they were face to face.

"You're welcome." She said back, keeping eye contact with him the whole time.

"I should finish cleaning up." Luke said as he turned his face away and stood up off the ground.

Lorelai looked up at him, standing up herself. "Okay."

"Ah, so. If you want you can go back to the house and I'll be there after I'm done."

"Alright, I'll see you at home." Lorelai said grabbing her coat and walking out the door. She felt her heart racing as she walked over to her jeep and got inside, what had just happened? Was she going to kiss Luke if he hadn't gotten up? Did he want her to kiss him? And if he did why didn't he go for it? Her mind was racing with the thoughts of it. But the real question was, did she want to kiss him? And now after that they had to spend the night alone together because Rory had to go and offer to cat sit for the neighbors, where was her chaperone when she needed her? _Wait_ , she thought. _Chaperone?_ Why would she need a chaperone to be around Luke. She had known him for five years and nothing had ever happened between them, sure they flirted sometimes but that was it. And just because he was pretending to be with her for the sake of his daughter didn't mean anything was any different than it had been before. She exhaled and started up her car, the whole way home she thought about it and decided she was probably overreacting to nothing. When she got inside the house and noticed the chick Rory brought home from school was missing from her cage she called the one person she could think of to help find her.

The next two days went by in a similar way to how the first five had went with Luke living there, the townspeople had started to ask Luke questions about his newer introduced daughter but they kept it to a minimum as asked to by Anna's friends. The awkwardness Lorelai had been feeling after the night on the diner floor had quickly blew over during their chick hunt. That was until the night before when she was at Friday night dinner, Rory had brought up Luke finding the chick and of course Emily had much to say about it. She ended up admitting to her mother that she might have feeling for Luke, and for the first time she admitted it to herself. Although now was not the time to deal with it, April was coming to spend time with Luke for the first time today and she was trying her hardest to keep him calm.

"You know you have wiped that same spot four times already?" Lorelai asked as she sat at the bar stool in the diner, watching Luke work.

"I have?" He asked.

"You need to chill out, have a few shots or something."

"I'm sure Anna wouldn't be happy if I took shots before meeting our kid."

"I'm just saying you should take a breath and calm down."

"What am I supposed to say to her? Why did I not think this through until now?"

"It's last minute jitters, you are going to be fine. She's seven, you can talk about anything with them at that age and they'll be happy."

"What if she doesn't like me? Anna said I was bad with kids, maybe she was right and I'm going to be bad with my kid."

"Luke, you are not bad with kids."

"What if she hates me and tells her mom she doesn't want to see me, Anna said it was her choice."

"She won't hate you, no one could hate you."

"You hated me when we meet, you kept calling me Duke."

Lorelai chuckled. "I did not hate you, I only did that to throw Rory off. She was at that age where anytime I was around a man she would assume I was dating them, she thought I would hide it till she got to know them. It made for a really awkward conversion after she accused a male guest at the inn of leaving me while he was checking out. There is no way I could have ever hated you, Luke."

"She really did that?"

"I had to comp him for his stay in order to keep him from complaining to Mia." Lorelai smiled at Luke. "You are going to do great today, just relax and enjoy the fact that you get to spend some time with her. The rest will work itself out with time, you'll see."

Luke took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll try." He said then he heard the bell above the diner door ring, they both looked over and saw Anna and April walking inside, Luke smiled at them and walked over. "Hey."

"Hey." Anna said, resting both her hands on April's shoulders. "Sorry we're late, April wanted to stop and get you something."

Luke looked down at April and smiled. "You didn't have to do that."

"I read once bringing gifts is a good icebreaker." April said and held up a bag.

Luke took it from her and reached inside, he pulled at a small photo frame shaped like a baseball with a photo of April in it and smiled. "I love it, thank you, April."

"Mom told me you liked baseball, she said you like fishing too but this frame looked nicer." April explained. "The photo might be a little crooked, I put it in while we were driving."

"It's perfect." Luke said setting it back into the bag. "I actually got you something too." He said then walked behind the counter grabbing something out and holding in behind his back as he walked over to them again. "I didn't get it wrapped in time."

"That's fine, wrapping paper never slowed me down anyways." April said and Luke handed her a book on astronauts.

"You're mom told me you were hoping I was an astronaut, although I am not I figured that wouldn't stop you from being one someday."

April looked through the pages then smiled up at Luke. "This is amazing, thank you."

"I think you have won her over already with that." Anna joked.

"Well I also heard you were a fan of diners, you want a tour?"

"Yes, I would love one." April replied excitedly.

"Okay." Luke said and starting pointing around the room. "This is the dining area, it's a little quiet now but in the next hour people will start coming in for lunch." Luke walked towards the hallway and they followed. "Back there is the bathrooms and the storage room where I keep the ten pound jars of pickles."

"That's a lot of pickles." April said as they walked towards the counter.

"People here really like their pickles." He pointed upstairs. "Upstairs is my old apartment which in now my office. This is the counter, normally I only let workers behind it but I have a couple customers that sneak behind it sometimes." Lorelai smiled at him from across the counter. "You can come behind it too." Luke told them as they walked towards the kitchen. "And lastly, that is the kitchen where all the magic happens."

"I like it, it's way nicer than the diner we have in Woodbridge."

"Do you mean the hungry diner?"

"That's the one."

"That place is still around? I thought they would have gone out of business years ago."

"You've been there before?"

"Me and your mom went there years ago, she spent the whole time talking about how awful the coffee was."

"They have made it worse since." Anna said with a laugh. "I hope your's is still as amazing as it used to be, I've been dying for a good cup of coffee."

"Oh, it is, I can attest to that." Lorelai said raising her hand, all of them looked over at her. "His coffee is the best in the state, possibly even the world but I don't travel much so I can't be sure."

"Ah, I guess I should introduce everyone." Luke said then pointed to Lorelai. "This is my fiancee, Lorelai."

"Luke, you just let her sit there the whole time without introducing us." Anna said.

"Well she was sitting there quietly which doesn't happen often, I thought I would enjoy it while it lasted."

Lorelai smiled and held out her hand to Anna. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." Anna said shaking her hand.

"And you must be April." Lorelai said holding her hand out to her.

"Yes, nice to meet you." April said sweetly as she shook her hand.

"Oh, so polite."

April glanced up at Luke. "Can I use the bathroom?"

"Yeah, go right ahead." Luke said and she walked off towards the restroom.

"You can breath now, it's seems to be going good." Lorelai told Luke, she looked over at Anna. "He's been worried about meeting her again, he wasn't sure she would like him."

"Lorelai." Luke said embarrassed.

"That's alright, Luke." Anna said. "April was pretty worried about the same thing, I assumed her it wasn't possible for anyone to dislike her."

"I told him the same thing." Lorelai said.

"She spent the last few days asking me questions about you and she'll probably ask you more today, I'm sure by the end of our visit she will know more about you then I ever did." Anna told Luke.

April walked back into the diner and over to them. "Your soap dispenser is getting low, you might want to fill it soon."

"Thanks for letting me know, I'll fill it up later after closing." Luke said. "I'm off work now so if you want we could eat lunch here or we could go back to me and Lorelai's house, you could meet her daughter."

"Is she nice?" April asked.

"I may be a little biased, but I'd say she is the nicest teenager you will ever meet." Lorelai said.

"I agree." Luke said. "She's gets along with everyone."

"I would like to see your house." April said.

"It's a few blocks from here, we can all walk if you want."

"Definitely, I want to see the town. Mom told me a lot of stories about the people living here."

"And you still want to see it?" Luke asked as they four of them walked out of the diner.

"They sound like fun, she told me a woman named Miss Patty once made you sing in her show." April said, taking her mom's hand as they walked down the street.

Lorelai broke into a laugh. "Why have I never heard this story before?"

Anna looked over at Luke. "Sorry, I realized after I told April that you probably didn't want anyone to know about that."

"What show was it?" Lorelai asked eagerly.

"It wasn't actually a show, she was rehearsing a duet between her and some other guy but he got sick and she forced me to help her practice." Luke explained.

"The whole time he kept stopping and saying please don't make me do this anymore." Anna said laughing. "She yelled at him till he sung the song the whole way through."

"What song?" Lorelai asked.

"A Couple of Swells."

Lorelai's jaw dropped as she looked over at Luke. "You did Easter Parade?"

"Please, forget you ever heard this story." Luke said.

"Did you dance around in top hat and hobo clothes?"

"We sat down on stools and sang it, there was no movement."

"Other than Miss Patty hitting you." Anna said.

"Oh please tell me there is video footage of this." Lorelai said.

"Luckily, no." Luke said as they reached the house.

"Well I guess you will have to give us a live version after lunch."

"Not a chance." Luke stopped and looked at April. "This is our house."

"It's nice." April said looking around the yard.

"Luke!" Babette yelled from her yard as she ran over.

"I hope you aren't too hungry, we might not be having lunch for a while." Lorelai said to April as Babette reached them.

"Is this her?" Babette asked, looking at April. Luke nodded and she pulled April into a hug.

"Oh." April said, surprised by the hug.

Babette pulled away leaving her hand on her shoulders and looked her over. "You look just like your dad." She said then looked at Anna. "And you look great, do you ladies never age anymore?"

Anna smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Babette. How is Morey doing?"

"Oh, he's doing great sugah. He has been playing gigs in New York laterly. I miss him but you know what they say, the longer absence makes for better se-"

"Babette!" Luke yelled, stopping her.

"What? I was gonna says sets, he plays better when he's lonely. Gives his songs more feelin'."

"I'm glad he is going good." Anna said. "Be sure to tell him I said hello."

"Will do sugah. I'll let you guys get back to whatever you were doing."

"Ah, yes. We got some pretty wild plans for lunch." Lorelai joked, they said their goodbyes then the four of them walked inside the house. "Well this here is the foyer, as you can see." They walked in further. "That's the living room, upstairs is our room." The walked down the hallway into the kitchen. "This is the kitchen, which used to be used as a room to store all our pop tarts but since Luke moved in it is fully functionally. And behind us is my daughter's room." She knocked on the door. "Rory, sweets. Come out here."

Rory opened her door and walked out into the kitchen, she looked over at Anna and April and smiled. "Hey."

"This is Rory." Lorelai told them. "Rory, this is April and Anna."

Rory shook both their hands. "It's nice to meet you both."

"You too." Anna said.

"You are the girl he built the bookshelf for?" April asked.

"Yeah, it's the second one he's built."

"So you like reading?"

"Like would be an understatement." Luke said.

"I'm really into reading, I take a book with me everywhere I go." Rory explained, she looked at the book in April's hand and pointed at it. "I actually helped Luke pick that out."

"Can I see your books?" April asked. "I love reading and I'm trying to get some ideas of what to check out next."

"Of course, follow me in here." Rory said then the two of them walked into her room.

"They've bonded over books, they might never come back out of that room." Lorelai joked, she looked over at Anna and gestured towards the dining chairs. "Here, take a seat."

"Oh, thank you." Anna said and sat down, Lorelai sat down across the table.

"What does April like in terms of lunch?" Luke asked.

"She's not too picky, but one of her favorites is grilled cheese."

"I can do that." Luke said, going into the fridge and pulling out a pack of cheese slices. "You two want something to drink?"

"Coffee." They both said at the same time, smiling at each other afterwards.

"Coffee coming up." Luke said grabbing a couple mugs.

"So Anna, what do you do?" Lorelai asked. "Luke told me you used to work in retail."

"I actually own my own shop now."

"That's so cool, what kind of stuff do you sell?"

"Clothes, pillows, candles, fabrics. It's one of those everything kind of boutiques that used to send Luke in a "what do people need with all this crap?" kind of rant."

"Ah, yes. They same rant he makes when he looks in my closet."

Luke set down a coffee in front of both of them. "That's really great, Anna. You always said you wanted your own place."

"Thank you." She said then took a sip of her coffee. "It's better than I remembered."

"He adds hazelnut now." Lorelai said.

Anna set down her cup and looked over at Lorelai. "What do you do, Lorelai?"

"I'm the manager at an inn in town, The Independence Inn."

"Oh, I've been there, that's a great place. Mia's the owner, right?"

"Yup, she's in California now but she stops by every so often to make sure I haven't screwed anything up too much."

"Mom!" April said, running out of Rory's bedroom and over to Anna. "Look, Rory gave me books."

Rory walked out behind her and smiled. "She said she read 'A Wrinkle in Time' and loved it, I figured she could use the whole Time Quintet series."

Anna looked at the five books in April's hands. "Thank you, but aren't you gonna want to read them again sometime?"

"I have two sets."

"You do?"

"One Christmas when Rory was younger she asked for the series, me and my friend Sookie both ended up getting her the set." Lorelai explained. "She refused to return either of them because she didn't want to hurt the feelings of whoever brought her the one she got rid of."

"Well, thank you Rory. That is very sweet of you and I know she will love them." Anna said sweetly.

"Oh, no problem." Rory said then looked at April. "You know the author of those books lives in Connecticut?"

"Really?" April asked surprised. "Have you ever meet her?"

"She wishes." Lorelai said. "We spent a whole day wandering around the town she lived in in hopes of running into her."

"I remember that." Luke said, looking back at them from the stove. "You two came into the diner that night and Rory had that sad little look on her face."

Rory smiled. "And you made me s'mores on the burner because you knew those were my favorite snack at the time."

"Oh, I love s'mores." April said.

"Luke could make us some, couldn't you, Luke?" Rory asked.

"After dinner, you don't want to spoil your appetite with junk food." Luke said then turned back to the stove. Lorelai stood holding her index finger to her mouth to shush them, she tiptoed over to the cupboard by the fridge and grabbed out a bag of marshmallows before returning to the table. She opened the bag quietly and let everyone grab one out then Luke turned around with the plate full of freshly cooked grilled cheese's. "Lorelai!"

Lorelai smiled up at him with her marshmallow filled cheeks and held up the bag. "Marshmallow?" She mumbled.

He rolled his eyes and set down the sandwiches in the middle of the table. "Give me those." He said and grabbed the bag out of her hands and set it on the counter.

The five of them ate lunch together followed by s'mores, afterwards they sat in the living room visiting. April told them all about her schoolwork and discussed more books with Rory, she asked Luke questions about himself and he answered them all even if Lorelai and Rory would mock him about it, especially when he brought up that his favorite show as a kid was Star Trek.

"Please stop taunting me, we are trying to have a conversion." Luke begged as Lorelai and Rory teased him.

"I'll drop it" Lorelai said with a laugh. "For now."

Luke shook his head and turned back to April. "Do you do any after school activities? Like clubs or sports?"

"I'm in a puzzle club and I do swimming lessons."

"Oh, your mom told me you took swimming. How are you liking it?"

"It's fun, my coach thinks I'm good enough now to join the school's swimming team."

"That's great, good job."

"Mom told me you used to be in track."

"Back in highschool I was."

"Did you have to wear any sort of uniform?" Lorelai asked with a grin plastered on her face.

Luke looked at Lorelai then over at Rory. "Did you-"

"I didn't tell her." Rory defended.

"Yes, we wore uniforms."

Lorelai smirked and stood up. "I'm gonna go make some more s'mores, anyone want some?"

"Oh, me." Rory said.

"We are probably gonna leave soon, April's got school work to do and I got a week's worth of laundry piled up that needs to be done."

"I'll make you a few more the road." Lorelai said then patted on Rory. "Hun, why don't you help me make them."

Rory stood up and walked with her to the kitchen. "You just want me to do all the work, don't you?"

April smiled and looked back at Luke. "Did you do any other sports?"

"No, not officially. I would play pickup games of baseball, I still do actually."

"Really? Where do you play?"

"There is a baseball field here in town we play at, we have a game next Saturday planned."

"Oh, can I come and watch you play?"

"I'm not sure how much fun it would be for you."

"I like watching, I track the plays and make charts for the runs."

"Both teams are terrible, there usually aren't any runs."

"Do you not want me to come?" April asked sadly.

"No, April. I would love it if you came, I just wanted to make sure it would be fun for you." Luke looked over at Anna. "As long as you are okay with it?"

"Can we go, mom?" April asked eagerly.

"It's fine by me."

"Well the game starts at nine, do you know where the field is?" Luke asked Anna.

"Yes, I watched you play there several times before."

"And if you want we can have lunch at the diner after, make it like another visit."

"We could make these meetings a weekly thing, every saturday?" Anna asked, making both Luke and April grin. "At least while you get to know each other, afterwards we can set up more times if you'd like."

"That would be perfect." Luke said.

"Okay, Saturday's it is." Anna said then stood up. "I'm gonna use your bathroom before we go." She said excusing herself.

April and Luke both looked at each other and smiled. "So-" She paused. "What should I call you?"

"Ah, what do you want to call me?" Luke asked.

"Can I call you dad?"

Luke looked at her surprised. "If you want to."

"It makes sense, since technically you are my dad."

"If you don't feel like you are ready to call me that yet you don't have to, it's totally up to you."

"I think I'd like to call you it, at least on a trial period. If it's too strange I'll just call you Luke."

Luke smiled. "Okay."

"S'mores to go." Lorelai said as she walked into the living room with a container of s'mores in her hands, Rory following behind her. "Now I'm not sure how well they travel so tell your mom not to drive too crazy, avoid speed bumps, that kind of thing."

April stood up and grabbed the container from her. "Thank you, Lorelai."

Anna walked back into the living room. "You ready to go, April?"

"Yeah." She said. "Bye everyone."

"Bye, let me know what you think of the books." Rory said.

"Bye, April. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us today." Lorelai said.

April turned to Luke and gave him a hug goodbye. "Bye, dad." She said, everyone's faces turned to surprise not knowing what they had just discussed.

"Bye, I'll see you next weekend." He said and she let go of him. They finished saying their goodbyes and Luke walked them back to their car before returning home.

"Dad?" Lorelai asked as he walked back into the living room.

"I'm dad on a trial period." Luke said sitting next to her on the couch. "If it's too strange for her to call me she's gonna stop."

"And next weekend?"

"She wants to come to my baseball game."

Lorelai smiled. "She likes you."

"It may be too soon to tell."

"Okay." She paused. "Dad."

Luke shook his head then smiled to himself. Sure he was still terrified about being her dad but it was nice to know they could talk, the whole time she was there it had felt as easy to talk to her as it did with Rory. He knew in a few years her vocabulary would surpass his but luckily he had time while she was young to get to know her. Now he would just have to wait and see all the curve balls fatherhood could throw him, and hope he could handle them.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: What I had originally outlined as chapter five turned out way too long when I wrote it so I cut it into three chapters and added filler, because of where I wanted to cut it this chapter is much shorter than the next one and much less eventful. Let me know what you think and as always, enjoy!

The week since April had been to town had gone good so far, Luke was happier knowing she liked him and was excited to spend more time with him. April would call every night since her visit and make sure they were still on for the baseball game tomorrow, Luke assured her they were then they talked about her school work and what was going on with the townspeople. Luke and Lorelai both had some free time in the afternoon so they meet up and went out to pick up the paint she had chosen, filling up his truck with them and driving them back to the diner.

"So, you're sure we need this many cans?" Luke asked Lorelai as they unloaded the cans onto the steps outside the diner.

"Oh, yeah. You need enough for two coats and touch ups and little spots." She smiled. "No, I'm not sure."

"Well, we got the paint and the brushes and the tarps and all the other stuff the paint guy said we'd need, so I guess we're ready."

"Yes, we are."

"The only thing left to do is figure out when."

"How about next Saturday after your visit with April?"

"Saturday?"

"Yeah, I mean, you don't want the stuff sitting around. I don't know if paint goes bad, but judging by the smell of it when it's fresh, rotten paint would be really gross."

"That should work."

"You good unloading these? I wanna run to Doose's."

"Yeah, I got it."

"And if you get the chance can you stop home and fix the shower in the upstairs bathroom? The pressure was awful and it kept spitting water at me this morning."

"I'll try. If I can't do it today, I'll do it in the morning."

"Good." Lorelai said as she walked away, Rory caught up with her on the sidewalk

"Hey." Rory said before glancing back at Luke unloading the paint cans.

"Oh, hey, you."

"Geez, you think you got enough paint?"

"I know, I tried to tell him." Lorelai said throwing up her hands. "So, dinner, Thoughts?"

"Let's have some."

"How about Chinese?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay." Lorelai said as they approached Doose's. "I need to stop at the market and get some fruit."

"Why?"

"I think I'm getting scurvy."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Well, that or a cold. But either way, I need some fruit." Lorelai said then they started walking into the market when they heard the loud sound of a motorcycle engine driving into town.

Taylor stepped outside and looked at where the sound was coming from. "Damn motorcycles, they're a scourge."

"Yeah!" Rory said.

"Yeah." Lorelai said.

"They're loud, they're dangerous." Taylor complained. "We should ban them from town."

"Maybe we should set up barricades and ban all unwelcome strangers from crossing the border." Lorelai jokily suggested.

"Well.. Well, no we couldn't do that, that would be illegal."

"Darn laws."

"Oh, gotta get away from that noise." Taylor said disappearing into the market.

"Kill me and bury me with that bike."

"What is it? A Harley?" Rory asked.

"That is a two thousand Indian, eighty horsepower, five speed close ratio Andrews transmission and I want to get one."

"No." Rory said simply.

"Why not?"

"You'd die."

"Oh, that." Lorelai said then they both turned to go into the store as the bike pulled up near them.

"Hey." A voice from under the helmet said.

"Hi." Lorelai said kindly, looking back at him.

"Nice shirt, take it off." He said then lifted his helmet off.

"Christopher." Lorelai mumbled under her breath.

The three of them talked shortly, Rory invited Christopher to stay with them which he accepted then Christopher talked Lorelai into letting Rory ride with him. Lorelai walked home by herself and by the time she got inside the house they pulled up on the bike, she peeked out the window as the two of them walked towards to door with linked arms.

"That was awesome." Rory said as they walked in the front door. "Now I see why mom wants one." She said while they walked into the living room.

"Hey Lor." Chris said before glancing at the couch that was currently piled high with blankets. "Why are there so many blankets on your couch?" He asked curiously.

"Ah, my friend Lane slept over yesterday." Rory lied.

"Cool, slumber party."

"Well, we're a little old for slumber party."

"Yeah, now they just get really drunk and pass out in the living room." Lorelai joked.

"She stays over so we can eat junk food and stay up late without her mom knowing." Rory explained.

"Sounds cool, if you aren't too wore out from that crazy party we can try doing it again tonight."

"That'd be perfect."

"Um, is it okay if I take a shower?" Christopher asked. "I got several hours of road trip on me."

"You can use the upstairs bathroom, first door on the right." Lorelai said then he nodded before walking upstairs. "You're dad is here and he is going to be sleeping on the couch, the couch where Luke sleeps."

"I'm sorry, I got so excited that he was here that I completely spaced it."

"It's okay, I'll just tell Luke he has to sleep at his place."

"No." Rory said quickly. "He can't sleep at his place."

"What? Why not?"

"He has to stay here, you can't be here alone with dad."

"Rory, your dad and I can be under the same roof together, nothing is going to happen."

"The town won't think that, and we can't screw this up for Luke."

"Okay, Luke can stay here too. We'll just have to find a place for him to sleep." Lorelai paused for a moment to think. "You think he'd fit in the bathtub?"

"He could sleep on your bed."

"And where would I sleep?"

"On you bed."

"You want us to share a bed?"

"Why not?"

"I cannot share a bed with Luke, it would be too weird."

"You sleep with me all the time."

"You are my daughter."

"You've slept in the same bed with Sookie before."

"She is my friend."

"So is Luke."

"But Luke is my man friend, it's different."

"If he's just a friend it shouldn't be any different. He is just a friend, right?"

Lorelai exhaled. "Fine, he can sleep in my bed. But I'm looking for a room at the inn tomorrow for your dad."

"So are you gonna tell dad you are engaged to Luke?" Rory asked with a smirk.

"Yes, like you said we can't mess this up for Luke. We will stick to the plan, just you and Sookie knowing." Lorelai paused. "I mean, as long as you don't mind lying to your dad. I know I don't mind lying to mine but that's a bit different."

"I don't mind, it's not we talk much anyways."

"Okay, well go order the chinese and I'll switch out the blankets on the couch." Lorelai said then Rory left the room and she pulled the blankets Luke had been using off the couch and replaced them with another blanket. She went to the kitchen and filled of a couple cups of coffee before bringing them to the living room and setting them on the coffee table.

"Food is ordered." Rory said hanging the phone up.

"That took an awful long time to order."

"They had a new worker answering the phone, after they heard everything I ordered they thought I was prank calling them. I had to try and convince them I wasn't, the only reason they believed me is because Bruce came back from a delivery and confirmed it."

"They should throw in some extra fortune cookies for wasting your time."

"I suggested the same thing."

Christopher walked down the stairs, dabbing his damp hair with a towel. "That is the worst shower I have ever had, water pressure keeps changing every two seconds. I'm fixing it tomorrow."

"Hey, you stay away from my shower." Lorelai said defensively, she had already asked Luke to do it for her.

"We ordered chinese food, it should be here any minute." Rory said.

"Good, I'm starving." Chris said as he walked over and sat in the living room.

Lorelai grabbed one of the coffee cups off the table and handed it to him before sitting down next to him. "Here."

"Thanks." He said then took a sip. "So when did you start using shaving cream?"

"What?"

"There is shaving cream on your bathroom counter, you're not going Annie Jones on us are you?"

"That's not mine." Lorelai paused, taking a quick sip of her coffee. "It's Luke's."

"Luke's?"

"My fiance."

His eyes widened and he looked over at her surprised. "You're engaged?"

"Yes, as of a few weeks ago."

"Hey, congratulations."

"Thank you."

Trying to brush past the awkward silence that was now in the room Rory spoke up. "So, how's Diane?"

"Ah, Diane is ancient history." Christopher said.

"When I met her at Easter you said she could be the one."

"The one to be gone by Memorial Day."

"You're worse than mom."

Lorelai gasped. "Low blow."

"You not keeping Luke happy?" Christopher asked turning towards her.

"Oh, I keep him happy. I keep him very happy."

Rory chimed in. "Okay, now, don't be gross."

"Yeah, you're upsetting us." Chris said with a smile.

"I'm gonna go study before the food gets here." Rory said, starting to leave the room.

"What? Tomorrow's Saturday."

"I know, I like to get my weekend homework done and out of the way by Saturday night so then I can do extra-credit stuff on Sunday." Rory said before she left and walked into her room, Christopher glanced over at Lorelai.

"Don't look at me." Lorelai said.

"She's a great kid, Lor. I wish I could say I see more of myself in her other than we have similar left ear lobes, but she's all you, chip off the old perfect block."

"Why the hell are you here?"

"Behold the queen of the subtle transition."

"Why are you here?"

"You're gonna force me to lawyer up officer."

"Christopher."

"Okay, look. I've been making some changes, especially my career and I think I finally have all my ducks lined up in a row."

"You're opening a shooting gallery."

"I've been tying up loose ends in my life."

"Do they make that much string?"

"You know you've always had that verbal thing, quick mind, it's annoying."

"So you've been tying up loose ends."

"I don't know how much your dad has told you but I'm on the verge of kind of a big success, it's for real this time. I've got a company with an actual cash flow, I've got employees, I've got an accountant for God's sake. He wears a tie and says words like fiduciary and ironically. I mean it's for real this time, Lor."

"I would love to believe it is."

Christopher exhaled. "Why does your dad have more faith in me than you?"

"My father hit his head surfing Rincon a couple of years ago, his judgements a little off."

"So you have zero faith?"

"I've known you since I was six, Chris. You're the guy that crashed his Porsche two hours after his parents gave it to him for his sixteenth birthday.

"And you were the girl in the Pinky Tuscadero tee shirt sitting right next to me."

"Horrified."

"Think again."

Lorelai smirked. "Alright, having a blast then horrified."

"Just listen to me will you?"

"I'm listening to you." Lorelai said seriously. "Your life's back on track, I think that's great. And I appreciate you coming all the way out here, for the very first time might I add, to tell us that."

"I didn't come out here just to tell you that."

"No?"

"There's some things I need to do." He paused. "To take care of."

"Like?"

"I haven't been enough a part of Rory's life. So I wanna be around more, to be a pal she can depend on. I mean I'm not crazy, I know there's already a life going on here and God knows she doesn't need anyone besides you but if you give me a chance."

"I've always had the door to Rory open for you."

"I know."

"You've hardly ever used it."

"Well, I wanna use it now. Is that ok?"

"Of course it is."

"Good." Christopher said as Rory walked back into the living room.

"Hey, I forgot to ask you. Tomorrow morning I'm going to a softball game, do you wanna come?" Rory asked Christopher.

"You play softball?"

Rory laughed. "Ah, no."

Lorelai looked at Rory and chuckled. "You? Play softball? Good one."

"Well, okay. Who's game is it?"

"It's my friend Dean's."

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Dean, and Luke plays too. The game starts at nine o'clock."

"Ah, sure. It's a date." Rory smiled then ran back to her room. "She has a Dean?"

"She has a Dean."

"And you have a Luke."

"I have a Luke."

"How did this happen?"

"Well a single-celled organism crawled out of primordial ooze and that pretty much lead to Dean, Luke however just kind of happened unexpectedly."

"Unexpectedly? Did he hit you with a car or what?"

"No, we have been friends for years. One day when I stopped looking for someone I noticed him right beside me, I didn't think he felt that way about me but that theory was proven wrong."

"Did you two set a date yet?"

"We haven't quite gotten to the date setting yet, it's still pretty new. He didn't even move in till right after the engagement."

"He lives here?"

"Hence the shaving cream in the bathroom."

"Wow, that's big. And you haven't started freaking out yet?"

"No freak out now or anytime soon."

"Is he going to be okay with me staying here?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine with it."

"So, is he worthy?"

"Honestly, he's probably too good for me."

"Not possible."

Lorelai smiled. "He is worthy."

"Good. I'm happy for you, Lor." Chris said then they heard the doorbell ring.

"That's the chinese food." Lorelai said standing up and heading towards the front door. After they ate the three of them watched some television, a few hours later they left Christopher asleep on the couch and walked to the kitchen.

"Did he ever tell you why he is here?" Rory asked.

"He said he wanted to see you."

"It's nice having him here."

"I wouldn't get used to it just yet, you know he has a tendency of saying one thing and doing another."

"You don't think it's gonna bother Luke that he is here, do you?"

"Why would it bother Luke?"

"No reason, I guess." Rory said then stood there silently. "I'm gonna get to bed, tell Luke I said good night."

"Okay, but just be warned if I feel too strange I'm crawling into bed with you tonight."

"I'm looking forward to the elbow in my face all night."

"Night, hun." Lorelai said then Rory walked into her room, Lorelai headed upstairs to her bedroom.

Awhile later Luke got home, when he walked inside the whole place was dark. He found the switch on the living room wall and clicked the light on, he immediately noticed the man sleeping on the couch where he normally slept. He crept over to him and looked the man over.

"Hey." Luke said trying to get his attention, the man shifted on the couch and mumbled something in a language he couldn't understand. Luke walked back and shut off the light before heading upstairs to Lorelai's room, he knocked gently on her door.

"Come in." She yelled from inside, Luke opened her door and walked into the room.

"Does the guy on the couch belong to you or should I be getting a bat?" Luke asked, pointing out the doorway.

"That's Christopher."

"Rory's father?"

"Yup, he showed up today out of the blue. Rory invited him to stay here so I had to put him on the couch."

"You should have called me, I wouldn't have had to come over here."

"You can still stay here."

"I'm not sure I'll fit on the couch with him."

"Thanks for that mental image, seriously, I'm going to cherish it forever." Lorelai said with a smile. "But I didn't mean you would sleep on the couch, I meant sleeping here." She said and patted on the side of the bed next to her.

Luke looked at the empty side of the bed then back up at Lorelai. "You want me to sleep with you?"

"It's less dirty than you make it sound."

"Why don't I go back and sleep at my place tonight?"

"Rory says you can't because it will look bad with Christopher staying here and not you."

"I'll just sleep on the floor then."

"Stop being a baby and sit on the bed, I promise I won't bite." She stopped and smirked. "Unless that's what you are into in bed."

"Geez." He blushed.

"I'm just kidding Luke, it will be fine. I'll stay to my side and you stay to yours."

"Alright, i'll go change I guess." Luke said then left her room, she got up and locked her door. She walked over to her dresser and picked out her nicest pair of pajamas then changed into before unlocking the door and sitting back down on the bed. Luke came back in shortly after and pulled his watch off, setting it onto the nightstand. He glanced down at his new side of the bed then took a deep breath before sitting down. They both sat there for a good minute without saying a word when Luke started grabbing some of the extra blankets on the bed and positioning them between the both of them.

"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked, looking over at him oddly.

"Making a blanket border."

"You are that scared of laying next to me?"

"I am not scared, I just don't want it to be weird."

"Then don't build the Berlin Wall of blankets between us." She grabbed all the blanket he had put between them and threw them to the floor. "That's better."

Luke looked at the empty space now between them before looking away. "So, should we go to sleep now?"

"I'm not really tired yet."

"Me either." Luke said then they sat in awkward silence again.

"I should really get a television up here." Lorelai mumbled.

"How is Rory liking her dad being here?"

"I think she is pretty excited, this is the first time he has ever been here."

"This is the first time in five years he has been here? He never came to your house before?"

"First time he has been in Stars Hollow ever."

"Even when you were staying at the inn?"

"Even then, we mostly saw him at holiday events and if he was living somewhat close I would drive Rory to his place to visit."

"That's crazy, how could he not want to visit Rory every chance he could? I miss her if she doesn't show up at the diner for one day."

"I've never really understood myself, I always made sure he felt welcomed in her life and when I could get ahold of him I'd tell him about special events coming up in her life but he never showed."

"So why is he here now?"

"He wants to be involved now, he says he hasn't been apart of her life enough and he wants to start."

"That's good, Rory deserves that."

"Somehow I don't believe him entirely yet, he always has a way of shooting in and out of our lives, not caring what damage he leaves when he goes."

"Who knows, maybe it could be different."

"I really hope so, Rory has gotten the short end of the stick all these years with her dad. I've watched her wait patiently for him to show up when he said he would or call when he said he would, pretty much to do anything when he said he would but he always found some excuse. And I know that killed her, all she wanted was for her dad to show a little interest in her life but he never did."

"I don't know what happened in the past and I don't excuse him for any of the crap he pulled but he seems to be showing interest now. Maybe something changed, he did come here this time."

"Maybe, it would make Rory happy."

"It would probably make you pretty happy too."

"I would be happy that Rory is happy, but the whole me and Christopher ship has sailed."

Luke looked at her in the corner of his eye. "It has?"

"He probably figured he could show up and I would fall straight back into this twisted little cycle we've had over the years, he'll pretend he wants more than the second it gets too hard for him he will leave. I don't think I deserve that anymore, I think I deserve someone better."

"I know you do."

Lorelai looked over at him and smiled. "You are going to make a really great dad, Luke."

"You think so?"

"I know so." She said bumping him in the shoulder.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to be, I've never even been around kids."

"You've been around Rory, she was eleven years old when we moved here and you were great with her."

"Rory's different, she didn't act much like a kid."

"April doesn't really act like a seven year old either, plus she has known you a matter of hours and she already loves you."

"That's because she doesn't know me well enough yet."

Lorelai shook her head. "You'll be a great dad, trust me."

"I don't know anything about being a parent, I have never even read a parenting book."

"Neither did I and I haven't killed my kid yet, sure we had a few close calls. But eventually you learn not to let your kid jump on the bed in a room with a low raise ceiling."

"I think I could figure that one out on my own before hand."

"See, you are already ahead of the game."

Luke smirked. "I'm just hoping I am at least one tenth the father my dad was, I'll be happy with that."

"I think you will be a lot more than that."

"I doubt it."

"Here, what are some things your dad did while you were growing up that really stick out in your memory?"

Luke took a moment to think. "I guess one that really sticks out is a short while after my mom died, me and my sister Liz were really in a bad place. She was crying constantly and I was completely zoned out, I didn't want to do anything other than lay in my bed all day. The firelight festival was that night and my dad wanted to take us but we didn't want to go without mom so he sat us both down and he told us in life there are gonna be bad things that happen, you will lose people you love but you can't let it hold you back." Luke paused taking a breath. "He said our mother loved bringing us to the festival because she got to see our smiles when they lite the fire, how excited we got when we won a stuffed animal in one of the games and how we would eat so much cotton candy we were both throwing up at the end of the night just like the rest of the people there who had too much party punch." He smirked and Lorelai did the same. "He told us we will go tonight for her, so she can look down on us and be happy that we are enjoying life to the fullest." He looked over at Lorelai. "I know it was really hard for him to go there without her but he took us every year after that. I want to be that selfless with April."

"You're dad sounds like he was a wonderful man, he sounds a lot like you."

"How so?"

"Never in my life have I met someone as selfless as you. Most the time is amazes me that you are even human, let alone my friend."

"I think you are over exaggerating a bit."

"I'm not, the way you are around Rory is proof of that. You have no obligation to her but you are always there for her. You talk to her every day and ask her how everything is going, you feed her, you celebrate her birthday with her and you invite us to thanksgiving every year because you know there is no way I could cook it. You do all these things for us and you never ask for anything in return." Lorelai smiled at him. "I don't know how you do it."

"I like to take care of both of you, you're like the only family I have."

"What about your sister?"

"I love my sister but other than growing up together I don't get to see her much. She calls me when her and my nephew need help after one of her breakups, I make sure they have a good place to live and food in their kitchen then I leave and don't see them again till the next one."

Lorelai smiled at him. "You fix things for them too."

"It's just a bandaid on about fifteen different bullet holes."

"Trust me, from a person who has run to you for help many times in the past that she appreciated it. You don't know how much of what you do means to us."

Luke looked at her and smiled, she smiled back at him then she noticed he looked down at her lips. Her expression froze and she was sure he was finally going to go for a kiss then he snapped his gaze back to her eyes quickly before looking away. "I should probably get some sleep, I have that game in the morning and I'm gonna hang out with April a while after."

"Okay." Lorelai nodded. "I'll get the lights." She said then turned off the lights, they both slipped under their own covers and faced back to back on the bed.

"Night, Lorelai."

"Night, Luke." Lorelai said, shoving her face into her blanket. It took almost an hour before either of them were able to fall asleep but they remained quiet and still the whole time. At some point in the night Lorelai woke up with her arm wrapped around Luke who was lying on his side still, she smiled and closed her eyes falling back to into a peaceful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Loving the feedback I got on the last chapter, I know Christopher is a sore subject in our Java Junkie hearts but I actually had fun adding him into this story. This chapter is part two of three in my original chapter five outline and one of the much longer ones so please let me know what you think and enjoy!

The next morning Rory snuck into her mother's bedroom quietly to get a towel, hoping not to wake either of them. When she got inside she looked over and saw Lorelai snuggled up against Luke, she stared at the both of them a few seconds not knowing what to think of it. She decided it might be creeper if they woke up to her staring at them so she turned towards Lorelai's closet and dug through it for a clean towel. When she closed the closet door it creaked, waking Luke up from his sleep, he glanced over and saw Rory standing in the room with a towel in hand.

"Rory?" He asked, looking at her through his tired eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you but I needed to steal a towel from mom." Rory explained. "She did laundry last which means all the towels are still in the hamper in her closet."

Luke looked over at the clock on his night stand that read a little before six. "It's fine, I should be getting up anyways." He finally noticed the warmth he felt was Lorelai's arm wrapped around him, he slowly picked up her arm and moved it gently as he stepped off the bed and they both walked into the hallway. "It's six am, what are you doing up so early?" He asked.

"My dad is a really loud snorer."

"I brought some earplugs, you could use them if you want to sleep longer."

Rory chuckled. "I think I'm up now, but if he stays longer I'll take you up on that."

"You must be pretty excited to have him here."

"It's nice while it lasts." Rory paused. "But it is the first time he has came to Stars Hollow, I plan to give him the full tour today."

"I'd avoid Taylor or he will never come back."

"Good idea." Rory said with a smile. "I'm gonna go shower."

"Yeah, me too." He said pointing to the upstairs bathroom.

Later that same morning Lorelai woke up and glanced over at the now empty side of the mattress, she crawled out of bed slowly and walked to the bathroom. Once inside she reached into the shower, grabbing the faucet and turning the water on.

"Hey, what the hell!" Luke yelled from the inside. He pulled the curtain open trying to get away from the water flow that was hitting him in the face and Lorelai looked at him in his soaking wet tee shirt and jeans not sure what was going on, he held his hands up trying to block the water which only made it spray out of the shower and right at Lorelai.

Lorelai reached into the shower quickly and turned the faucet off. "Luke, I am so sorry." She said as he wiped off his face. "I didn't know you were in here."

"Why did you think the light was already on?" He asked as he pushed the wet hair out of his face.

"I forget that thing on all the time."

"I don't even want to know what your electric bill looks like."

"What were you doing in the shower with your clothes on?" Lorelai asked, looking him over.

"I'm fixing the water pressure like you asked me too."

Lorelai glanced at the shower head lying on the ground. "That would make sense since the shower head is sitting on the floor, surprised I didn't see that."

"Also, my toolbox is on the toilet seat." He pointed at it and she looked over at the toolbox.

"I'm not very observant before coffee."

"I didn't really need a second shower, now I'm soaking wet." Luke said, gesturing to his water drenched clothes. Outside the bathroom Christopher was about to open the door and walk inside when he heard voices.

"I'm wet too." Lorelai defended, Christopher pulled his hand after from the door knob.

Luke took a quick glance down at her wet tee shirt then looked back up at her. "I noticed, but it's your fault for coming in here and turning it on." He said, pointing towards the faucet.

"Well.. I didn't know you'd be all manly man at seven am, in the shower yanking the head off."

"Next time take care of it before hand and I wouldn't have to." Luke said, Christopher getting slightly disturbed starts to walk away.

"I'm gonna get towels." Lorelai said, leaving the bathroom. When she got into the hallway she noticed Christopher walking the other way. "Hey, Chris."

Christopher turned around and walked back to her. "Ah, morning." He replied awkwardly, for the first time she felt the urge to cover her chest so she crossed her arms.

"What are you doing up here?"

"Sorry. Rory's using the bathroom downstairs, I thought I'd come up here and use yours but I'll just wait for her to be done."

"No need to be sorry, you're welcome to use it anytime. Just not now, Lukes in there fixing the shower. We had a little mishap because I didn't know he was in there and I turned the water on."

"Ohh, okay that makes sense."

Lorelai looked at him unsurely. "What makes sense?"

"Just that." He paused. "That he would be fixing it."

"Yeah, he has fixed everything in the house at least twice already."

"That's good." Christopher said with a nod.

"I gotta get towels so-"

He cut in. "Okay, I'll go back downstairs and wait for Rory." He turned around heading downstairs, Lorelai walked to her bedroom. She went into the closet, grabbed out a couple towels then went back to the bathroom. When she opened the door she saw Luke standing in the shower with his shirt off, spinning the water out of it. "Oh god." She said under her breath, staring at his bare chest.

"Lorelai?" He asked, she quickly shook out of her trance then walked towards him and handed him a towel.

"Here is your towel."

"Thanks." He said then started to dry his face and hair, she took the time while he couldn't see her to look at his body a little longer. He pulled the towel away from his face and she looked up at him. "I got the shower head back on and it should be working good now, it was just some build up inside it."

"Good, good.. Just let me know when you're done in here and I'll shower quick." She turned, rushed out of the bathroom and back to her room. She dried off, removed her wet clothes and switched into her robe before sitting down at the end of her bed to wait for Luke to be finished in the bathroom. Shortly after he walked into her room, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. She glanced over at him then immediately to the floor.

"I didn't want to go downstairs to get my clothes like this, you mind grabbing me some?"

"Yup." Lorelai said standing up, she sped walked past him to the door. Her curiosity got the best of her and she glanced back quickly to look at his back side then cruised herself for not grabbing him a towel big enough to wrap completely around himself. With a thud she slammed into the door frame, Luke turned around and put his free hand on her back.

"Lorelai, are you okay?"

"Yeah." She waved one hand while she held the side of her head with the other. "I do this all the time before coffee."

"For your safety I'm gonna stop trying to give you tea."

"I'll be right back with you clothes." She said pulling away from him then walking out the door towards the stairs. "Stupid, stupid. Running into walls like some doughy eyed freak." She said to herself, walking down the stairs. She went over to his hallway closet and pulled one of his tee shirts off the hanger then went into the trunk and grabbed out a pair of dark grey sweatpants. She went to close the closet when she remembered underwear, she opened the trunk again as she started to wonder whether he wore boxers or briefs. _Stop wondering that_ , she thought.  
After digging further into the trunk she pulled out a pair of boxers. "Ah ha, boxers."

"What are you doing?" Rory asked from behind her.

Lorelai flitched, throwing the pair back down. "Geez." She said, grabbing her chest.

"Are you doing something evil to Luke's underwear? You told me you got rid of the itching powder."

Lorelai grabbed the pair she had just threw, adding it to the pile of clothes before she stood up. "I'm not doing anything evil. Luke needed some clothes after I accidentally soaked him with water, and he didn't want to come down here in a towel to get them."

"Luke is upstairs in a towel?"

"He is, and let me tell you he hides a lot under those flannels."

"What does that mean? Or do I not want to know?"

"It's probably best I end the story there."

"Okay. I'm giving dad the Stars Hollow tour, tell Luke we'll see him at the game today."

"Will do, just don't take your dad by Taylor if you want him to stick around."

"Luke already gave me that tip."

"Good, have fun and walk please. I've been on the back of your dad's motorcycle before and it doesn't always end well."

"Yeah, yeah, we will."

"I'm gonna go bring the man his clothes." Lorelai said, patting on the pile of clothes in her hand, she turned away and went back upstairs to her bedroom. She walked over to Luke, looking down as she handed him his clothes to avoid seeing anything else.

"What took you so long? I'm freezing." Luke said, putting on his tee shirt with his free hand.

"Sorry, Rory was talking to me. She just left to take her dad on the tour of the town."

"She didn't want me to make her breakfast before she left?"

"They will probably eat out, but if you're feeling like you still need to make two servings of pancakes I wouldn't complain."

"I'm sure you wouldn't."

"Well, I'm going to shower. Don't forget the coffee unless you want to get sprayed with water again." Lorelai said, leaving the room.

In town Rory and Christopher left the bookstore, he had intended to buy her the book of her choice but the credit card he used was declined.

"Now you really remember me?" Christopher asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I didn't want it that much anyways." Rory lied.

"Hey, listen, don't tell your mom about this okay?"

"Okay."

"Maybe we should just go back to the house, I was planning on buying you breakfast but I guess that's out."

"We can go to Luke's for breakfast." Rory suggested.

"Luke, your moms Luke? I thought he lived with you."

"He does, I meant Luke's diner." Rory said, pointing to the diner as they walked up to it. "He owns it, and he lets us eat free since the engagement."

"He owns his own diner?"

"Yeah, that's how we meet him back when we moved into our house. You know mom, if they is good coffee to be drank she will find it."

"You've known him since you moved, wasn't that like four years ago?"

"Five actually, and mom meet him the first day we moved here after she dropped me off at school. She loved the coffee so much that she brought me for breakfast the next day, that's when I meet Luke."

"I guess we should go inside then, I can taste this famous coffee." Christopher said, the both of them walked inside.

Rory went straight behind the counter picking up two coffee cups and filling them to the rim, she turned back to the kitchen and yelled, "Caesar, can you make us a couple orders of pancakes, bacon and sausage please?"

"Coming right up!" He said back.

Rory picked up both the cups and walked Christopher to an empty table. "Over here."

"You're allowed to go behind the counter and get coffee?" Christopher asked as they both took a seat at the table.

"Mom does it all the time, which Luke hates but he's not here so I figured it was okay."

Christopher glanced around the diner, examining the room. "Cool place he's got here, but what's up with all the hardware stuff?"

"It was his dad's hardware store, they were really close so when he opened the diner he left everything the same, other than it being a diner of course."

"That must have been nice for him to be so close to his dad, I wish I could have that with mine."

"Yeah." Rory said with a nod, they sat in an awkward silence a moment.

"So your mom and him knew each other five years, that's a long time to wait to get engaged."

"They were just friends most of the time, they started dating two months ago."

"Woah, quick then."

"Everyone saw it coming, even when they were only friends they were really close. The whole town had wagers on when they would get together, it was just always clear that they liked each other whether they were willing to admit it or not."

"And you like him?"

"Yeah, I love Luke, he's a great guy."

"Good, I'm glad you like him too because I know sometimes to whole step-parent thing can be weird."

"It makes it easier that I see him everyday anyways, it's not like much is changing other than him living with us and that gives us the added bonus of in home coffee." She said with a laugh. "Which I've noticed you haven't tried yet."

"I've had diner coffee a few times before, I'm a little scared."

"Try it, you won't be sorry."

"Okay, okay." Chris said, he lifted his cup and took a small sip.

"So, what's the verdict?"

"I can see why your mom likes coming here so much."

"One of the many reasons, you haven't even tried the pancakes yet."

Back at the house Luke was finishing up making breakfast when Lorelai came down, he held up a full cup of coffee and she grabbed it out of his hand.

"Thank you." Lorelai said with a smile, she went over to the dining table and took a seat. She sat quietly sipping her coffee as Luke made their plates, he set them both down on the table and sat in a chair.

"You're quiet, did you not sleep well with me in your bed?" He said as his slid her plate across the table to her.

"I slept great, just mapping out what I have to do today." She paused. "Why did you not sleep well in there?"

"No, I slept fine. I don't think I woke up once until Rory came in."

"Rory came in the bedroom while we were in there?"

"She needed a towel."

"I should have told her not to come in while you're sleeping, nothing wakes me up so she probably didn't think about it."

"It was okay, I needed to get up anyways. This is her house, she shouldn't feel like she can't do the stuff she usually does."

"I guess I'm a little surprised she is comfortable with you living here, not that I think she wouldn't be with you in general but she has never lived with anyone other than me."

"Other than my family and Rachel I have never lived with anyone, I didn't think it would be this easy."

"You lived with Rachel?" Lorelai asked surprised.

"Kind of, whenever she would come to town she would stay with me. It would only last a few weeks at the most then she would be gone."

"Was it easy living with her?"

"If I wasn't constantly wondering when she was going to bail then it might have been, I was always worried I'd wake up and she would be gone so I could never really sleep."

"Why did she always leave? I mean I heard she liked to travel but why couldn't she do that and live here."

"She grew up here, we knew each other since we were kids and she always said she wanted to be anywhere but here. Part of me didn't believe her but as soon as high school ended she was gone, I didn't see her again till she came to town for my dad's funeral."

"That was nice of her to come back for that."

"It was, she ended up staying with me two months which is the longest she ever has, she knew I needed her or she would have left sooner. She may have messed with me a lot over the years but that meant something to me."

"I can't believe you had this whole life I never knew anything about, five years and I don't think I ever asked you anything personal."

"I'm sure you have, but I probably ignored it. I'm not one to talk about my past with people, but after everything that has happened lately I feel like I can tell you. And you keeping your mocking to a minimum has helped."

"I really need to up my mocking game, I've been off lately."

"You have, last month's Lorelai would have had twenty different jokes about seeing my butt."

"You know I saw it?"

"I figured you might have, since you haven't made eye contact with me this whole time we've been talking." Luke said and she looked up at him, making eye contact for the first time.

She smiled. "I didn't see much, just the side of it."

Luke took the last bite of his eggs then stood up and walked over to the sink, he washed his plate off and set it in the dish drainer before turning around and resting against the counter. "While I was cooking Anna called, April wanted to see if she could have lunch with me after the game. I told her we could, and she said to invite you and Rory too."

"I have to run to the inn to sign paychecks, I could probably catch the end of the game and we could all go from there. We'll have to ask Rory, she might already have lunch plans with Christopher."

"If they do you can join them, you don't have to come just because she asked."

"I want to come, she's still at that age where I know enough to keep up with her. It's the golden years my friend, when she still thinks because we are adults we are smart."

"She'll be excited to hear you're coming with." Luke said walking her to take her plate, she stopped him.

"I can clean up, you get to the game."

Soon after at the baseball field Rory and Christopher walked up to the bleachers and found a good spot to sit.

"We're here pretty early, I don't think the game has started yet." Rory said, glancing around.

"There would need to be more than three people on the field for the game to start." Christopher explained. "You don't watch much baseball do you?"

"Not really, I usually read and yell stuff at them sometimes."

"Where's Dean?"

Rory pointed. "He's the one over there by their sitting room."

"Dugout?"

"By the dugout." She corrected herself.

"Tall kid." Christopher said as he peered over at him.

"Believe it or not, no one has ever pointed that out."

Christopher smiled at Rory, he looked over at Kirk walking towards them. "Please tell me that is Luke?" He asked with a laugh.

"That's Kirk." Rory waved at him. "Hi, Kirk." She said as he took a seat behind them.

"Which one is Luke?"

"He's the one carrying their equipment in." Rory said, pointing at Luke.

Christopher stared over at Luke, observing him. "Not the guy I pictured."

"How so?"

"In my mind he had an eye patch."

"Mom did go through a pirate phase." Rory joked. She watched Christopher look over at Anna and April walking towards them, he smiled at Anna. "Not a good idea."

Christopher looked back at Rory. "What?"

"You aren't her type."

"I was just smiling."

"Okay."

"Why am I not her type though?"

"Trust me, you aren't."

"Hi, Rory." April said excitedly as the two of them finally reached them.

"Hi, April." She said then looked at Anna. "Hi."

"Hey Rory, is your mom not coming?"

"I'm not sure, I know she had to run to work today." Rory glanced at the notebook in April's hands that was covered in planets. "Cool notebook."

"I'm gonna chart the game in it. Dad said it would be all throws, no hits, but I figure that makes the graph easier to make later.. I will need to find my ruler to make that straight of a line though."

Anna chimed in. "You know, you're dad is actually really good at baseball. He pretends to play badly so the other team doesn't go home feeling terrible."

"Really?" Rory and April asked at the same time.

"He used to do it all the time when I first meet him, but he's got quite an arm."

"That doesn't surprise me." Rory said, Christopher bumped her with his elbow feeling left out. "Oh sorry, dad." She said, looking back at him. "This is Anna and April. This is my dad, Christopher."

Christopher shook Anna's hand then April held out her's and he did the same for her. "Hi." He said, Luke noticed the four of them talking and walked up behind the girls and listened. "Cool name." He said as he shook April's hand.

Luke kneeled down behind April. "She was born in April so it would have been strange to call her May."

"Dad!" April said, turning around to hug him.

"Dad?" Christopher whispered to Rory, she nodded back at him.

"You made it, I wasn't sure you were gonna come." Luke said, standing back up.

"What? I told mom to call you, did she not call you this morning to make sure?" April asked in a panic, Luke smirked. "You're messing with me."

"Yes, I am."

"Where's Lorelai? Did you tell her about Lunch?"

"I did tell her and she is very excited about it, she just has to run to work quick then she will meet us here."

"Cool, I brought the photo of my plant I was telling her about last week and I want to show her it."

Rory chimed in. "She has been talking about that plant all week, she's gonna freak out when she see's it." She said, both Luke and Anna smiled at her.

"Are you playing baseball too, Rory?" April asked and Luke snickered.

"Will people stop laughing at that?"

"Rory isn't much for sports." Luke explained. "Her boyfriend plays on the other team."

"You have a boyfriend?" April asked.

Rory looked over at Christopher awkwardly. "Yes, he's the one in the green."

April looked over at him quick then turned back. "Tall."

Rory smiled. "I doubt the two of you need to be introduced at this point, but Luke, this is my dad. Dad, this is Luke."

Luke held out his hand and shook Christophers. "Nice to finally meet you, Christopher."

"You have never meet?" Anna asked.

"This is my first time in the Hollow." Christopher explained.

"We meet vaguely last night." Luke said.

"We did?"

"You were asleep on the couch, I tried to wake you up to ask who you were and you mumbled something back to me. I think it might have been in chinese."

"Yeah, I've been told I talk mandarin in my sleep. Took it in high school yet I can't remember a word of it in the day time."

"Luke!" Dean yelled from the field. "The game is starting."

"One second." Luke yelled back. "I'll see you after the game." He told April.

She held up her index finger. "Give me one hit to chart."

"You got it." Luke said before walking to the field. April took a seat next to Rory and started writing down something in her notebook, Rory glanced over at her curiously.

"Whatcha writing?" Rory asked.

"I'm writing that he plays badly on purpose." April explained and Anna leaned forward and looked at Rory.

"She does this with people, she likes to make a list of things she learns about someone so she can study them and see what kind of person they are."

"I already have nine pages since last week." April said flipping through her notebook.

"That's a lot of stuff, mind if I read some of it?" Rory asked.

"Go ahead." April said, Rory flipped to a page and read a few things.

"He does that?" She asked, pointed to one of the things.

"Yes, I noticed a slight change of emotion when you or Lorelai would tease him. It was the same look right before he smiles so I concluded that he wanted to smile but was holding it back, most likely so you didn't know he likes it when you mess with him."

"These are all really nice things." Rory said, flipping through the notebook more.

"I know, I haven't found anything bad about him yet. Do you know of any I can put down?"

"Nothing comes to mind." Rory said with a smile, handing her back the notebook.

At the inn Lorelai finished up her leftover paper work and headed to the kitchen for a cup of coffee to go, she tried sneaking in without Sookie noticing her since she had to leave any minute and if she got stuck talking to her about everything she could be there hours. She walked to the coffee pot while Sookie was facing the stove cooking, took the lid off her thermos and poured it full of coffee. She went to walk away thinking she was home free then Sookie turned around.

"Lorelai!"

"Shot." Lorelai said to herself, turning back around.

"Did I hear right? Christopher is in town?"

"Yeah, your ears are working just fine."

"And he is staying at your house with Luke there?"

Lorelai walked over to Sookie, feeling there was no way to get out of this conversion now. "Yes, they are both staying at the house."

"How is that working?"

"It hasn't seemed to be a problem, Luke got home so late he didn't even get a chance to meet Christopher."

"Is Christopher staying with you in your room?"

"No, he's staying on the couch."

"I thought Luke slept on the couch." Sookie said, Lorelai took a sip of her coffee not saying a word. "Where is Luke sleeping?"

"Luke is staying in my room."

"Where are you sleeping then?"

"In my room."

"Do you have an air mattress on the floor?" Sookie asked, still not catching on.

"No, I only have the one bed."

Sookie thought about it a minute then gasped. "You and Luke slept in the same bed?"

"Yes, but we've slept in the same bed before." Lorelai said, gesturing to the two of them.

"That's different, we're talking about Luke, in you bed."

"It isn't a big deal, Sookie."

"So what happened?" Sookie asked grinning.

"We slept, that's it."

"Really?"

"Yes, and we talked awhile but that is it."

"Oh." Sookie said, disappointed. "Is it because Christopher is here?"

"Sookie, no. It's because Luke and I are friends, we can stay in the same room together without a problem."

"Okay, if you say so." Sookie paused. "So nothing?"

Lorelai exhaled. "I saw Luke wearing a towel."

"Was he using it as a cape?"

"No, I accidentally drenched his clothes with water while he was fixing the shower. He took them off and came into my room in only a towel asking me if I could go downstairs and get his clothes."

"Oh my god." Sookie squealed. "Did you see anything?"

"Yes, yes I did."

"His-" Sookie gestured down.

"No!"

"Sorry, I thought that's what you meant when you said yes."

"Let just say I say everything but it." Lorelai said, raising her eyebrows and Sookie just looked at her. "But it.."

"Oh, you saw Luke's butt?" Sookie said excitedly.

"Part of it."

"And how was it?"

"It's got a nice shape to it."

"Here I was wondering about Christopher being in town and you have a half naked Luke in your bedroom."

Lorelai looked over at the clock in the kitchen. "Crap, I'm running late."

"Don't think you can get out of talking to me about this."

"No, really. I'm supposed to be at the baseball field already, I'm going to lunch with Luke and April."

"Fine, we will put a pin in it."

Lorelai smiled leaving the room. "Bye, Sookie."

Back at the baseball field the game was coming towards an end, Luke and Dean had agreed that the next hit wins. Luke stepped up to the plate, glanced over at April and gave her a wink. He lifted up his bat and as soon as the ball was pitched to him he collided with it, sending it out of the park. All three of the girls stood up and cheered for him as he ran around the bases, Dean walked off the field and over to Rory.

"You know you are cheering that I lost, right?" Dean asked.

Rory smiled. "I want you to meet my dad, Christopher."

Dean held his hand and shook Christopher. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Christopher said as Luke walked up behind Dean, patting him on the back.

"Good game, Dean." Luke said with a cocky smile.

"Don't taunt me."

"Well, I thought I would pay you back for saying I couldn't make the ball over the plate."

"You were lucky this time, next time we play I'll be the one running those bases."

"Yes, while you are crossing after me with the ball, maybe."

Dean smirked. "I gotta go." He turned to Christopher. "Nice meeting you." They all said bye to him before he left.

"Your mom didn't get here yet?" Luke asked Rory.

"No, I haven't seen her." Rory said then her cell phone starting ringing, she looked at the id. "Speak of the devil, here it's probably for you." She said, handing Luke the phone.

"Hello." Luke answered.

"My, my Rory." Lorelai said from the other line. "What type of supplements have you been taking? Your voice is so manly."

"Are you here yet?"

"Yes, don't you see me standing right beside you?" Lorelai said sarcastically.

"I guess you're running late."

"I just left the inn, my paperwork took longer than expected."

"You sure you didn't get stuck talking to Sookie?"

"You know me far too well, I should be there in a few minutes."

"Alright, we'll be here."

"Now say, bye, hot mama."

"I will not."

"Fine then, bye, hun."

Luke smiled. "Bye, hun." He hung up the phone and handed it back to Rory. "She will be here soon then we can walk over to the diner for lunch."

"Rory, are you coming too?" April asked, Rory glanced over at Christopher.

"You can go, I'll be fine wandering for awhile on my own." Christopher told her.

"You can come too." Luke suggested.

"I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be, besides if you walk around here alone Miss Patty will make you her next husband."

"I don't know-"

Rory chimed in. "He's not kidding about that, come with us for your own safety."

"Okay, I'll come."

"If we got time I could make my chart now." April said.

Luke looked over at her. "Or we could play a little game while we wait."

"Baseball?"

"Yeah, baseball."

"That's not a good idea, I stink at sports."

"So did everyone else playing today."

"You promise not to laugh at me?"

"I promise."

"Rory has to play too."

Rory looked over at Luke. "If he promises not to laugh at me too."

"I'm not sure I can make that promise, but I'll try." Luke said.

They all started walking to the field other than Christopher, Rory looked back and waved at him. "Come on, if I have to play so do you." She said and he followed them to the field.

Luke reached into a bag and pulled out a bat before handing it to April. "This is the lightest one I have, it's not too heavy for you is it?"

"It's fine." April said, swinging it around a little.

Luke bent down next to her and showed her where to grip the bat, he held it and they did a few practice swings. "Chris, you know how to pitch?" He asked.

"Yeah, somewhat." Christopher replied, Luke grabbed a bucket of baseballs and handed it to him. Christopher went over to the pitching area and picked up one of the balls. "You ready?"

"Not really." April said, Luke smiled and bent back down to help her swing. "Okay." She said and he threw a ball, the both of them hit it.

Luke helped her hit a few more before standing up and backing away from her. "Okay, try without me now."

April tried swinging at a few different pitches without hitting one. "I told you I stink at sports."

"You are doing good but you are swinging too late always." Luke told her as Lorelai walked up to the fence behind them, she tried hitting it again but missed. "Okay, that one was a little too late."

"I'm never going to get this, I stink."

"You do not stink, think of the field like the solar system." He walked over next to Christopher. "Christopher is Saturn, and you are the sun."

"Luke, you know the solar system?" Lorelai yelled from behind the fence.

"Don't mock me while I'm teaching." Luke said then took a few steps forward. "This is Jupiter." Few more steps. "Mars."

"Make alien sounds!" Lorelai yelled.

"I'm not making alien sounds." He took more steps. "Earth."

"Hey, I've heard of that place."

Luke looked out at Lorelai. "Is this why Rory won't study around you?"

"Yes!" Rory said.

Luke took a few more steps. "Venus." He looked over at Lorelai who was about to open her mouth. "Do not start singing." He warned then took another step. "This is Mercury, when the ball gets to Mercury you swing."

"Swing at Mercury, okay." April nodded, Christopher pitched the ball and she hit it sending it a little past him.

"You did it." Luke cheered, giving her a high five.

"I got it to Neptune!"

"Great job, honey." Anna said.

"It's Rory's turn to try now." April said handing her the bat.

"Oh, this should be good." Lorelai teased.

"Don't mock so soon, I got the solar system to work with this time." Rory said, stepping up to the plate.

"April, go stand by her mom so you don't get hit." Luke said, gently pushing her away.

"Really?" Rory asked.

"Just being safe." Luke said, he walked up to Rory and showed her how to hold the bat then he stepped away.

Rory swung at the first one and missed it. "I swung at Mercury."

"You let your arms go limp." He said, walking up beside her. He helped he mimic the batting motion. "Keep your arm straight, like that."

"Got it." Rory said, he stepped away and she swung again. This time she hit it and it flew past Christopher.

"You made it past Pluto!" April said.

Rory looked back at Lorelai proudly. "I hit it past Pluto!"

"That was amazing, hun."

"Good job, kid." Christopher said.

Luke grabbed a bat and looked back at Lorelai. "You want to try, Lorelai?"

"No, not a chance."

"Come on Lor, try it." Christopher said.

"It will not end well for anyone involved if I try it."

"I tried it and I share the same athletic genes as you." Rory said.

"I tried and my genes aren't any better." April said and looked at Anna. "No offence, mom."

"None taken."

"What do you say, Lorelai?" Luke asked.

"Maybe next time."

"Okay." Luke said then turned to Anna. "It's your turn then."

"No way, the last time I played was the time I gave you a black eye."

"You gave dad a black eye?" April asked curiously.

"If I see your elbow coming towards my face, I'll duck." Luke said holding the bat out to her.

"Go hit it past pluto, mom." April said, pushing her towards Luke.

"Don't count on it." Anna said as she took the bat from Luke, he stood behind her holding onto her arms and helping her swing. Christopher looked over at Lorelai and noticed she was watching their every move.

"Give that a try." Luke said stepping back, Christopher pitched in and she hit it about how far Rory had.

"Go, mom!" April cheered.

Luke smiled at Anna. "You did it, and no black eye this time."

Lorelai walked around the fence and onto the field. "I'll try it now, you all made it look fun."

"I may have spoke too soon about the black eye."

"Hand me the stick." Lorelai said then Luke handed her a bat. Luke got behind her and showed her the same way he had showed Anna, Rory saw Christopher staring at them the whole time. Luke was about the step back and walk away when Lorelai stopped him. "No, swing with me. It's the only way I'll actually hit the ball." She said pulling Luke back to her so he was pressed up against her, much closer than he had gotten before. "Ready." She yelled, Christopher pitched the ball and they both swung together sending it over the fence.

Luke stayed behind her, leaving his arms wrapped around her. "That's a homerun."

"I'm not so clueless about baseball that I don't know what a homerun is."

"I couldn't be sure, you did call my bat a stick." He said then finally let go of her.

April ran up to them both. "Good job, Lorelai."

"Thank you." Lorelai said with a smile.

"Can we go eat now?" April asked. "I'm getting hungry."

"Me too, all the baseball worked up an appetite."

"Like you needed baseball for that." Luke teased.

"Shush, you."

"Let me grab the equipment then we can go." Luke said then he started picking up the bags.

Christopher walked over to Luke. "Need some help?" He asked.

"Yeah, that would be great." Luke said, they both picked up a couple bags and started walking back to the group.

"Look at the big strong men, carrying their balls." Lorelai joked.

"Lorelai, seven year old present."

"Dad, I'm old enough to know what baseballs are." April said and Lorelai smiled at her.

"Your dad is so silly sometimes." Lorelai said then they all walked to the diner, when they got inside Christopher followed Luke to the stairway with the equipment.

"I can get it from here, thank you." Luke said taking the bags from him and going upstairs, Christopher walked over to by Rory while Lorelai was pushing two of the tables together and they helped her set the chairs up. They all took a seat and Lorelai sat next to Rory, leaving a spot between her and April open for Luke. Luke came downstairs and grabbed a notepad, pen and a few menus before walking over to them. He handed Anna and Christopher a menu then sat down next to April with another.

"Me and Rory don't get one?" Lorelai asked.

"What do you need a menu for?" Luke asked. "You've had it memorized since ninety-seven."

"It would still be nice to be included."

"Would you like me to go get you menus?"

"Yes, please." She replied sweetly, he got up from the table and walked away.

April leaned towards Rory. "Did you notice the face change I was telling you about?"

"I did, that's the first time I realized it."

"What are you two talking about?" Lorelai asked.

"Don't tell her or he will never live it down." Rory said as Luke handed them both a menu then sat down.

"Thank you." Lorelai said then Luke went back to going over the menu with April, Lorelai leaned towards Rory. "Why'd he give us menus, everything on here is the same."

Luke set down the menu he was holding and looked over at her. "There are several other people around, why am I the only one getting harassed?"

"It's because she likes you." April stated.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Mom told me the boy that sits behind me in math class always kicks the back of my chair because he likes me, and wants my attention."

"Who is this boy and where can I find him?"

"That's cute." Rory said. "She's has a little boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." April said. "He doesn't even know how to count to one hundred."

"You shouldn't shoot a guy down based on his ability to count." Lorelai told April. "Luke can only make it to the eighties and I still love him."

"Is that true?"

Luke shook his head. "It's safe to say most things that come out of her mouth are not true."

"You're right." Lorelai said and leaned towards April. "He can make it well into the nineties."

Luke exhaled and stood up. "Is everyone ready to order?" He asked, they all told him what they wanted and he ran the order back to the kitchen before returning to the table.

"Lorelai, I have the picture of my plant I was telling you about." April said.

"Oh, show me, show me." Lorelai said excitedly, April pulled a photo out of her notebook and handed it to her. "They better talk to the school contractors about building a higher ceiling or this is going to grow right through it."

Rory glanced over at the photo. "That is way better than the one I grew in school, I believe my grew to about three inches before it sagged over and died."

"It is the tallest in my class, if it's still the tallest by the end of this semester I get a ribbon and a free book certificate." April explained.

"You might as well start picking your book now because this looks like a winner." Lorelai said and handed the picture back to April.

April took the picture and held it out to Luke. "This one is for you." She said and he grabbed it from her. "I planted this the day after I met you, it reminds me of how we have grown with time and nurture just like this plant."

"Thank you, sweetie." Luke said with a smile, he looked at the picture and put into his shirt pocket.

Lorelai smiled and leaned over next to Luke's ear, placing her hand on top of his. "See, and you thought she wouldn't like you." She whispered, when she pulled away she left her hand on top of his and started running her thumb across the top of his hand. He looked over at her and smiled before turning his hand around and letting hers fall into it to hold. Christopher's phone started ringing and he grabbed it out of his pocket to answer. "Ah, ah, ah, ah, hey, hey, hey, hey." Lorelai said pointing to the no cell phones sign with her free hand.

Christopher answered. "Hello?"

"I tried." Lorelai told Luke.

"Emily!" Christopher said on the phone.

"Emily?" Lorelai asked.

He moved the phone away from his face and whispered, "It's your mother."

"Hi grandma." Rory yelled towards the phone.

"Ah huh, well I'm actually sitting with your girls.. Sure." Christopher leaned forward and handed his phone to Lorelai. "She wants to speak to you."

"Mhmm." Lorelai said putting the phone to her ear. "Hi mom."

"Lorelai, Christopher is on town!" Emily said happily from the other line.

Lorelai fake gasped. "What?! I didn't know! Although coincidently I'm sitting across an amazing Christopher hologram." She joked.

"Well I had this wonderful idea. Christopher's parents are in town too, you remember Straub and Francine, don't you?"

"Ah yes, the Schnickelfritzes."

"The who?"

"The Hayden's."

"Well, I called them up and invited them to dinner. They said they are free to join us all on Friday night."

"Join us all?" Lorelai asked, Christopher shook his head no. "I'm not sure he can make it, mom."

"He's still going to be in town Friday, right?"

"I'm not sure, he's got a lot of stuff going on with his new business and all."

"We haven't all been together since the two of you were children, and Straub and Francine haven't seen Rory since she was a baby. Do you not want us all to see each other, Lorelai?"

Lorelai tightened her grip on Luke's hand. "No, mom. That's not what I want."

"Than bring him to dinner."

"I'll let you know, mom. Can I call you later? We're at the diner and they don't allow cell phones in here."

"Lorelai."

"Oh no, Luke's walking towards us. I gotta go before he sees me." Lorelai said then quickly ended the call. "Here's your phone back, I'd put it on silent for awhile." She said handing Christopher the phone.

"You're hurting my hand." Luke whispered, Lorelai loosened her grip.

"Sorry." Lorelai apologized, the waiter came over and dropped off their food and she finally let go of his hand. Once they were all finished eating Luke told them he was going to walk Anna and April back to their car and that he would be home at six, all of them said their goodbyes as they walked out of the diner and went their separate ways.

"So, should we head back to the house now?" Rory asked Lorelai and Christopher.

"I need to stop at the market quick, we're out of milk." Lorelai said and they walked on the sidewalk towards Doose's.

"That's quite a guy you got there, Lor." Christopher said as they walked.

"He's our knight in shining plaid."

"But what did April mean when she said she met him before she planted that?"

"They just met a few weeks ago, Luke didn't know about her till he ran into them at a store."

"Why didn't she tell him?"

"She let her past experience with her dad cloud her decisions, she thought it would be better to raise her alone."

"Was he bad to her?"

"No, things with them just didn't work out. She didn't find out she was pregnant till after they broke up."

"They seem pretty close for only knowing each other a few weeks."

"Since the second he found out about her he's made sure to be there as much as possible. Plus it helps that she is only seven, it's pretty easy to get them to like you at that age." Lorelai explained as they reached the market and went inside.

Luke finished walking Anna and April to their car and said goodbye to them, on his way back to the diner he ran into Andrew near the square.

"Hey, Luke." Andrew said. "Heard you had a good game today."

"It was alright, got a hit in at the end."

"Do you know, is Rory's dad mad at me for declining his card? He said he would come back with a different card and he never did."

"What? His card, you mean his credit card?"

"Yeah, Rory didn't tell you? They were in the store earlier trying to buy the Oxford dictionary but Chris' card didn't work."

"I hadn't heard."

"Well I set the book aside, it's the last one I have till my next shipment and I didn't want someone else getting it before she did. Could you let him know?"

"Ah." Luke reached into his pocket and grabbed out his wallet, he pulled a few bills out and handed them to Andrew. "How about you take this for now and tell Rory her dad paid for it, I can get it back from him later."

"Alright, I'll let her know." Andrew said and walked off.

Inside the market the three made their way to the checkout line but were stopped just shy of it by Taylor.

"Hey, Lorelai." He said walking towards them.

"Run." Lorelai whispered to Rory and Christopher. "It's too late for me, save yourselves." She said.

Rory grabbed her dad's arm and pulled him with her towards the door, once they were outside they both laughed. "Never let yourself get stuck in a conversion with Taylor, they tend to go on and on." She explained.

"This whole town is insane."

"Well it's only fitting that me and mom would live here then." Rory joked, Andrew noticed the both of them on his way back to the store and walked over.

"Hey, Rory. The card your dad ran earlier went through, we must have been having trouble with our system. It's behind the counter if you want to go grab it."

Rory smiled big and looked at Christopher. "Tell mom I'll be right back." She ran off towards the bookstore and Christopher stopped Andrew.

"That isn't possible, my card is over the limit already."

"It's paid for, don't worry about it."

"I can't let you pay for it."

"I'm not the one who paid for it." Andrew said. "I gotta get get back to the store." He said then walked away.

"I have broken free!" Lorelai said, coming out of the market with her bags. "He gave me a very lengthy lecture about keeping my lawn cut short enough." She looked around. "You lose our kid?"

"She went to the bookstore to grab a book I bought her."

"I thought your card got declined?"

"Rory told you?"

"No, I heard the whispers around town."

"Andrew said they were having a problem with there systems earlier, it's covered now."

"Weird, we've never had that problem before." Lorelai said. "Well let's go get her out of there before she starts browsing books, we'll never get her home then."

Later that day once Luke was finished with work he went back to the Gilmore house, when he got inside he saw Christopher walking around the living room.

"Hey." Luke said, setting his keys on the desk.

"Hey." Christopher said back. "They went to pick up some pies."

"Okay." Luke said, they stood quietly a moment. He started walking toward the kitchen when Christopher stopped him.

"I don't need you to pay for my daughter's book."

Luke turned around and walked back to him. "It's fine, Rory doesn't have to know I did." He said, Chris shook his head then reached for a folded tee shirt on the table and put it into his bag. Luke looked at his packed bag then back up at him. "You're leaving?" He asked. "You've been here one night and now you are leaving?"

"My work called, they need me back."

"That's crap." Luke said angrily. "You don't have to get back to work, and don't you dare try to lie to those girls and say you do."

"What do you expect from me, huh? You think because you've heard all the horrible stories about me that you understand what I am going through?"

"I understand that you are leaving, again. I understand that you are not here for them, again. What else do you need me to understand?"

"I can't be here, I tried."

"Woah, twenty-four hours. You tried really hard, didn't you?"

"I'm just not cut out for this, I never have been."

"What changed?" Luke asked, stepping closer to him. "Because for the first time you came here and everyone thought that meant something. Is it because of me? Because I'm with Lorelai?"

"It's not, it's-" He paused. "I don't know what to tell you."

"The truth would be nice."

"My daughter is sixteen years old, she is the same age I was when she was born. And she is so smart and so strong and she gets it all from Lorelai, she is nothing like me. I missed sixteen birthdays, sixteens christmas, sixteen years of her life. And I know, I know that is my fault. I was stupid and I thought there was more to life then staying here and being with my family, but I was wrong and I came here to see if I could make it up to them, I know now it's too late for any of that."

"You can't be with Lorelai so you give up on having a relationship with your daughter?"

"I missed my chance, Rory is all grown up now."

"You haven't missed your chance, Rory wants you in her life."

"Why would she want me in her life when she has you? You have always been around, you teach her how to play baseball, you make her food and buy her books."

"You are her father, me being in her life isn't going to change that. She's over the moon that you are here, she spent her whole day dragging you around this crazy town showing you off. You have a long history of getting her hopes up then bailing." He paused. "So don't this time, prove to her that you can be here no matter what. She's starting to think you don't care about her and if you stay away long enough she is gonna begin to believe it and never forgive you."

Christopher ran his hand over his mouth and took a breath before looking at Luke. "You think she will forgive me now?"

"Unpack your bag and find out." Luke said, nodding at his duffel bag.

"You are okay with me staying here? This is your house too."

"Lorelai and Rory are like family to me, no matter how awkward it may be I want them to be happy."

"I'll pay you back for the book."

"You being here for her is payment enough."

"Thank you." Chris said, putting his bag back onto the floor.

Luke nodded. "I'm gonna go start dinner, you like pork chops?"

"Yeah, mind if I help you? I know the way to a Gilmore's heart is through food, might be a good start."

"It is a sure fire way." Luke said and they walked to kitchen.

Lorelai and Rory walked back into the house, pies in hand. They kicking off their shoes and Lorelai started sniffing the air.

"Ohh." She said excitedly. "Smells like pork chops."

"You have a sense of smell that bomb sniffing dogs would be jealous of." Rory said as they walked into the kitchen, both their faces turned to surprise when they saw Luke and Christopher standing next to each other in front of the stove.

"What is going on in here?" Lorelai asked.

Luke glanced over at her. "Making dinner."

"I know what you are doing, but Christopher, are you holding tongs?"

Christopher smiled and clicked the tongs together. "Luke, is letting me help."

"Luke, honey. Please stop teaching people who burn toast to cook dinner, it's not going to end well one of these times."

"He knows what he is doing, he taught me to cook without incident which means he can teach anyone." Rory said.

"You know how to cook?" Christopher asked.

"Just spaghetti so far."

"She hasn't wanted to test her luck by trying any other dishes yet." Lorelai explained.

"Yeah, we've had spaghetti four times since then."

"And it's even better each time." Luke said then looked over at Christopher. "Flip the chops."

Lorelai looked over at the two of them cooking together then back at Rory. "It's like the twilight zone in here." She whispered.

"Sit, food should be done soon." Christopher said and both the girls took at seat, Lorelai continued to watch them with amusement the whole time.

After dinner they watched a couple movies, Rory left and went to bed after the first and Christopher fell asleep on the couch during the second so Luke and Lorelai ventured upstairs to get ready for bed. They got their pajamas on and climbed in bed, while Luke was setting his alarm Lorelai looked over at him.

"What did you say to him?" She asked.

Luke set down the clock and looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

"I've known Christopher a long time, I can tell when he's on the edge of his seat ready to leave. I was so sure I would come home and he would have some work related excuse to leave, but then we get here and he's in the kitchen with you cooking us dinner and he wants to watch a movie with all of us."

"He must of realized it would be a mistake to leave, I didn't say anything to him." Luke said without making eye contact with her.

"I don't think I have to tell you that we've know each other a long time so I know when you're lying, mostly because you are really bad at it."

Luke exhaled and looked back at her. "He was leaving."

"I knew it, that is just like him. And we all thought he had changed, I can't believe this." She paused. "Wait no, I can believe this, because it's Christoper and this is what he does."

"He wasn't leaving because he didn't care about Rory, he thought he missed his chance to be in her life."

"Now he's got you defending him, that guy never stops."

"Lorelai, you don't know what it is like to be scared you missed your chance. I came home from the store that first day I met April and planned not to get involved. I thought it wouldn't make sense for me to try and be in her life after missing so much of it, but really I was worried that she wouldn't want me to be there."

"It's different with Chris, he knew he had a daughter and he could have been there."

"He didn't know what he was missing then, and he's an idiot for it but he knows now. I told him it's not too late to be apart of Rory's life and he is going to try to be a better father to her."

"I know you bought that book for her too."

"Money doesn't make a father, he wanted to buy that book for her and that's all that matters."

Lorelai paused a moment before she smiled at him. "You two looked pretty adorable cooking together, are you sure there isn't anything you aren't telling me?"

"Geez."

"What, when I see two men sharing tongs I start to wonder."

"I'm going to bed." Luke said then laid down and faced away from her.

"I don't hear you denying it."

"Night, Lorelai." He said clicking off the light next to him.

She smiled to herself. "Night, Luke."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This is the last part of my somewhat three parter, the very short one. After hearing a few people bring up the friday night dinner I thought about making it a bigger part of this chapter but wasn't able to find the time so I ended up leaving it the same, hope it's enough. Let me know what you all think and please enjoy!

This Friday night dinner was a disaster. Christopher had agreed that since he was still staying with them that he would join them at dinner like Emily had asked him to and promised not to tell them anything about Luke since she told him they weren't ready to tell her parents yet, a promise he did keep luckily. One night with her parents and Christopher's parents, what could go wrong? For starters his parents started belittling Rory and dug into her for getting pregnant at sixteen and destroying Christophers life, then her father kicked them out which she took as a good thing. That was until she talked to him afterwards and learned it was strictly for the sake of the Gilmore name that he defended her. She tried to take a break away from everyone on the balcony in her old room but Christopher came up and offered her some booze. She declined and asked him if they could skip dinner and go home, he said that would be fine and the three of them left heading back to the house. When they got inside Luke looked over at them from the couch, he had been watching the baseball game while he waited for them to get home.

"Hey, you're back early." Luke said sitting up some. "How'd it go?" He asked. Lorelai didn't say a word, she walked past the living room and went straight upstairs to her room.

"Not good." Christopher replied. "Any amount of time spent with my parents can be defined as a traumatic experience."

Luke stood up and hurried upstairs to Lorelai's room, when he walked in the door he noticed her sitting on the end of her bed with her face in her palms. He walked over and sat next to her on the bed, placing his hand on her back and rubbing it gently. "Lorelai, what happened?"

Lorelai pulled her hands away from her face and sniffled. "Christopher's parents kept going on and on about how I messed up his chance of getting into college and having a good life when I got pregnant with Rory. And then my dad jumps in to defend me, and I think wow, I can't believe he is actually standing up for me." She sniffled again. "But he wasn't really standing up for me, he only cared that the Gilmore name was being tarnished."

"I'm so sorry, I can't believe they acted like that."

"I can, I don't know why I thought things would be different now. It has been sixteen years but I still felt like a teenager sitting in that room with them, they always have a way of making me feel so small."

"Lorelai, whatever they are making you feel about yourself, you are not. You are so strong and you have done such an amazing job raising Rory, if they can't see that they're the ones who need to work on their lives."

Lorelai turned her head and looked over at Luke. "Thank you." She raised a hand up and wiped her eyes. "God, I must look like a mess."

Luke shook his head. "Not a chance."

Lorelai stared at Luke a moment then stood up. "I'm gonna go wash my face."

"Okay." Luke said then she walked out of the room. A minute later he heard a knock on the door frame, he looked over and saw Rory walking into the room. "Hi, Rory."

"Hey, where's mom at?"

"Bathroom." Luke said. Rory stood there not saying a word, he looked at her expression and he could tell something was bothering her. "Rory, are you okay? I heard about everything that happened."

"Kind of, that Friday Night dinner will definitely be one for the books." She said as she walked over and sat on the bed next to him, Lorelai walked down the hallway and heard them talking so she stopped just shy of the doorway.

"You know that they don't have anything against you as a person, right?"

"That's what my grandma said too, but it's hard not to think that after everything they said."

"Those kind of people are just different than us, they need everything to look perfect in their lives, and a baby at sixteen doesn't look good to all their friends." Luke explained. "But if they were like your mom or me, or hell even the crazy people in this town, and they got to know you, they couldn't imagine a world without you in it."

Rory smiled then leaned over and gave Luke a hug. "Thank you, Luke."

Lorelai waited for Rory to pull away then she walked into her room. "Hey, kid."

"I'll go downstairs while you two talk." Luke said, standing up. "Hopefully Chris hasn't changed the baseball game to hockey again yet."

"If he has you can get in a very manly slap fight." Lorelai suggested, Luke smiled at the both of them then left to room and went downstairs.

"How are they doing?" Christopher asked Luke as he took a seat next to him on the couch.

"They'll be fine, they are strong."

Christopher smiled weakly. "I feel bad about leaving tomorrow."

"You stayed a week already, I think Rory is pretty happy about that. Besides, you have to get home and start looking for a job."

"Thanks for not telling them about that yet, I promise I'll tell them tomorrow before I leave. And I won't screw it up this time, I'm going to get my life together and be there for Rory."

"I know you will, she is definitely the kind of person you want in your life."

"Thank you for being there for her, the both of them." He paused. "I admit I felt pretty jealous seeing you with them at first, but now I'm just glad they have someone who will always protect them."

Luke smiled, he reached onto the coffee table grabbing the television remote and held it up to Christopher. "I guess since it is your last night here, you can put on the hockey game."

The next morning Lorelai woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast, she found her way downstairs to the kitchen and saw Rory sitting at the dining table, smiling as Luke and Christopher stood by the stove cooking pancakes.

"You have to flip it already." Luke told Christopher.

"It's not ready yet, if I flip it now it won't cook evenly."

"You are gonna burn it."

"I will not burn it." Christopher said then finally flipped it over.

Luke looked down at the black sided pancake. "That looks burnt to me."

"It is the first pancake, you always throw out the first pancake."

Rory chimed in. "That's true."

"I never do." Luke said.

"Really?"

"I own a diner, if I threw out the first pancake every time I made them I'd be out of business by now."

Luke turned to Christopher and took the spatula out of his hands. "Why don't you go fill the cups with juice and I'll cook the rest of them."

"You are sticking me with juice duty?"

"Well I don't think you could burn the juice."

Lorelai cleared her throat and they finally noticed her standing there. "Morning."

"Morning." They both said.

"Are you boys fighting again?"

"It will still be a minute till the pancakes are done, unless you are in the mood for a crispy one." Luke said as Lorelai took a seat at the dining table.

"You have the home advantage, you know how quickly the burner gets hot." Christopher said, grabbing the orange juice out of the fridge.

"He sure does!" Lorelai joked.

"I told you when to flip it, and you used that same excuse the other night when you let the gravy boil over onto the stove." Luke said as he set the pancakes onto a platter.

"I think I'll miss this most when dad leaves, it is quite the show." Rory said with a smile.

Luke carried the platter of pancakes, bacon, sausage and hash browns over to the table and set it down in the middle, Christopher set everyone's cups at their seats then the both of them sat down with the girls. They all ate and before they starting cleaning up Christopher spook.

"I wanted to tell you both something before I leave." Christopher said getting both the girls attention, Luke excused himself figuring that he would want to tell them on his own. "My business that I have been talking about didn't really pick up, I was an idiot for thinking it could, the whole thing was a bit of a gamble."

"Dad, I'm so sorry." Rory said.

"Thank you, but it's my fault. I wanted you to know that I'm going to get a really job, I've been calling around and I already have a few interviews. Not any place I would have seen myself working but they all pay good and they have constant schedules."

"Doesn't sound like something you will be fit for." Lorelai joked.

Christopher smiled. "Yeah, but I'm gonna make it work. And I'll visit more, anytime I get the chance. I'll make sure I have hotel reservations set up so I'm not camping out on your couch every time."

"Well I happen to know of an inn you could get a great discount at."

"And Rory, I'm gonna get a new cellphone. A permanent one so you can call me every week and let me know how everything is going with school and that boyfriend of yours, who I'm still not too happy about."

Rory smiled. "I'd like that."

Christopher stood up from his chair. "I should get going."

"We'll walk you out." Lorelai said as her and Rory stood up. The three of them walked to the living room and Christopher picked up his bag, Luke got up off the couch and walked over to him.

"It was nice finally meeting you." Luke said.

"You too." Christopher said and held out his hand, Luke shook it. "Take care of the girls."

"You know I will." Luke said then Christopher and the girls walked outside to his motorcycle.

"That's a great guy you got there, Lor." Christopher said, giving her a quick hug. "I'm glad you found someone to look out for the both of you."

"It's was nice seeing you, make sure it doesn't take another sixteen years to come around again." Lorelai joked.

Rory gave him a hug. "Bye, dad. Thanks for coming here."

"It will be hard to keep me away now that I've been here."

"Good." Rory said pulling away from the hug.

Christopher hoped on his bike and put his helmet on. "Bye girls." He said then started up his bike and drove away.

Lorelai put her arm around Rory as they watched him drive off. "You sad to see him leave?"

"Yeah, a little. But I think this is the first time I'm not worried he won't call or show up when I need him too."

Lorelai smiled at her daughter then hugged her tightly and they walked back into the house. After they got breakfast cleaned up April and Anna showed up from their visit, they spent most of the time at the house chatting and even played a few board games till they went to the diner for lunch.

"You're painting the whole place?" April asked as they finished up their sandwiches.

"That's the plan." Luke said.

"Isn't that going to take you a really long time?"

"Luckily he has two fabulous helpers." Lorelai said gesturing to her and Rory.

"But even with three people it will take hours, you have to take down stuff and tape all the frames. And are you covering the tables or moving them out of the way?"

"Wow, you know a lot about painting." Luke said surprised.

"I helped mom paint my room a few weeks ago, we could help."

"Honey, you have your play date with Missy tonight." Anna said.

"I'm not supposed to be there till five, we could stay a little longer and help them get set up."

"April, you and your mom probably have stuff to do before you go."

"We don't, I got all my homework done before we came." April turned to Anna. "Can we please stay and help? Just for a little while."

Anna looked over at Luke. "If you don't mind."

"We could use the extra hands, and it sounds like you two know more about the set up then we do."

"Yes!" April said hopping down from her stool. "I'll start taking stuff down, I'm gonna need an empty table near the shelves." She said going over to a table with a few people sitting at it. "Can you guy's get up and bring your food to a different table, I need to use this one." She said shooing them all away from the table.

"Kicking customers out of their seats, I can see the family resemblance." Lorelai said, bumping her elbow into Luke.

"I hope it's okay she wanted to stay longer." Anna said. "I know you had plans for just the three of you."

"Oh, no problem. We see enough of each other already, and we love hanging out with the both of you." Lorelai said.

"And it looks like she is going to be a hard worker." Luke said looking over at her as she stood up on a chair grabbing things off the shelve and setting them on the empty table.

"What does this mean?" April asked holding up a photo with a dancing pork chop. "I lost my head over a good chop, you should too." She read.

"It was something my dad, your grandpa had hanging in the kitchen at my old house." Luke explained.

"Why didn't you tell me that when I was teasing you for it?" Lorelai asked.

"Would it have stopped you?"

"Yes, it might have."

"Is anyone gonna get up and start working?' April asked.

"I guess that is our cue to get working." Rory said and they all stood up. Luke got out some empty boxes and Rory starting helping April take stuff down while Anna put everything they set on the table into boxes. Luke and Lorelai got out the tape and starting putting borders around all the frames and windows, everyone trying their best not to get in the way of customers, and not succeeding most of the time. After a few hours they had everything they could do while it was still open done, Luke walked behind the counter and the four girls sat down on stools.

"That was exhausting, I don't want to paint anymore." Lorelai said, plopping her head down onto the counter.

"I'll give you brownies for helping." Luke said and Lorelai sat back up straight.

"Brownies?" She asked.

"I told Caesar to have a fresh batch ready when we got done."

"I'm ready to paint, get these costumes out of here." Lorelai said then Luke went into the kitchen and came back out with a pan full of freshly baked brownies. She reached out to grab one out and he slapped her hand away. "Hey."

"Wait till I get plates." He said, grabbing four smalls plates from behind the counter. He set a brownie on each of them and gave everyone a plate.

Rory took a bite. "Totally worth all the work."

"Definitely." April said as she took another bite. "Dad, can I have a few extra's to bring to Missy's?"

"Sure." Luke said and grabbed a bag, placing a few in and handing it over to her.

"Thank you."

"Any chance I can talk any of you into drinking milk with those?"

"Two percent or skim?" Lorelai asked.

"They taste the same."

"That means you are trying to give us skim, so no."

Anna looked over at Lorelai. "Does he try and switch your food out for healthy substitutes?"

"He tries, I can always tell."

"He used to switch out the beef in his tacos for ground turkey all the time."

"You knew I did that?" Luke asked.

"Yes, but honestly I liked it better that way and didn't want to admit it."

"Did you do that when you made us tacos the other night?" Rory asked.

"No." Luke said, clearly lying.

"You did!" Lorelai said offended. "Oh, the trust, Luke. How are we going to make it if you're constantly trying to keep me healthy?"

"You'll be happy when you don't die at sixty."

Anna smiled as she finished up the last bite of her brownie and stood up. "We should get going."

"Yeah, Missy is really particular about us getting there on time. One time when were seven minutes late because I forgot math notes I had to hear about it the whole time I was there."

"She doesn't sound like that nice of a girl." Lorelai said.

"She isn't, but she has every episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy on DVD."

Anna chuckled. "And you have been friends since you were babies."

"Yeah, that too." April said and hopped down from her chair.

Luke walked around the counter and over to them. "I had fun seeing you again and thank you both for helping us setup for painting, you made it a lot easier on us."

"It was fun, I can't wait to see it in a few weeks all painted."

"A few weeks?" Luke asked, looking at Anna.

"Oh, sorry." Anna said. "I was gonna tell you that while April is on break from school we are going out to New Mexico to visit my mom."

"You get to go on a trip?" Lorelai said to April and she nodded. "Lucky."

"I'm really excited, everytime I go I find the best rocks for my collection."

Anna chimed in. "And I come home with a backache after carrying around a suitcase full of them."

"And grandma knows I have trouble sleeping away from home so she sets up my room with glow in the dark stars and makes me hot cocoa every night."

"Lucky again." Lorelai joked.

"Well, I'll miss seeing you while you're gone." Luke told April.

"I'll miss you too, but I'll call you every day."

Luke smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Bye, dad." April said, giving him a hug.

"Bye sweetie." He said, rustling her hair as they pulled away. He stepped over to Anna and gave her a quick hug. "Tell your mom I said hello."

Anna smiled. "I will, her reply to you might include some profanity though."

"It wouldn't be your mother if it didn't."

"Bye, Luke." Anna said then the five of them finished saying their goodbyes before the both of them left.

Luke walked behind the counter and looked over at Lorelai and Rory. "How about you both head home and get some rest while I handle the dinner rush, I can give you a call once everyone is cleared out and we can get started on the painting."

"Sounds good to me." Lorelai said as Rory and her stood up from their stool. "But you are forgetting the part where you have two delicious cheeseburgers waiting for us when we get here."

"And extra fries." Rory said.

"And onion rings." Lorelai said, walking towards the door.

"And milkshakes." Rory said, following Lorelai.

"I think it would be cheaper if I hired painters instead." Luke said, Lorelai smiled at him before they left the diner.

Three hours into painting they had managed to get most of the shelves and one side of the diner done, Luke and Lorelai were both about three beers in when Rory cut them off not wanting to see any sloppy painting. The girls were working on the last of the shelves next to the hallway and Luke was working on the wall next to them. Rory was up on a chair getting the higher shelves and Lorelai sat on the floor getting the ones below her. Rory dipped her paintbrush in the cup of paint she was holding and moved it towards the shelve but she hadn't wiped enough paint off and a blob fell off before she reached it, landing on Lorelai's arm.

"Hey!" Lorelai said, glancing at the paint on her arm then up towards Rory. "You painted me!"

"It was an accident!" Rory defended then Lorelai dipped her brush into the pal then slung it towards Rory, hitting her on the neck with paint. "Hey!" She said, wiping her neck.

"Lorelai, really?" Luke asked, looking over at the both of them.

Lorelai grinned. "It was an accident."

"Ha." Rory said, letting her jaw drop. Rory looked in her almost empty paint cup then stepped down from her chair and walked over to the paint bucket Luke was using and dipped her brush in, she flipped her wrist and the paint flew off her brush hitting Lorelai on the cheek.

Lorelai dipped her paintbrush in bucket and stood up. "Oh, now this is war."

"Girls, don't do this." Luke warned. "Just say sorry and let it go so we can get back to painting the diner."

As soon as he was done talking Lorelai flung the paint at Rory, they quickly got into a paint throwing war. Luke asked them both to stop several times and they kept going, flinging paint back and forth, hitting each other every time. Lorelai lifted a soaked brush and shot it at Rory, she shifted, avoiding it which made it fly behind her and hit Luke on the side of the face. "Oops." Lorelai said, looking over at him.

Rory looked behind her at a painted Luke. "Ohh, you hit Luke." She turned back Lorelai. "You are gonna be in so much trouble."

"You are the one who ducked!"

Luke looked at the both of them, not saying a word. He took a deep breathe before bending down and cupping a handful of paint, he stood up and shot it all at both of them. "There, now we are even."

Lorelai smiled looking at the amount of paint that covered the both of them, his handful being more than the full amount of what they had done before he threw it. She reached over and grabbed the paint cup that was still in Rory's hand and filled it full before splashing it at him. "No one is ever even in a paint war." She said then Luke stared at her, clothes now full of paint. He reached down picking up his paint bucket and walked towards her. "Okay, Okay. We are even." She said, moving backwards away from him.

"You are never even in a paint war." He copied her words, still walking towards her.

"I was kidding about that, you can be even." He didn't stop. "We're even." She said bumping into the table behind her with nowhere left to go.

Luke stood in front of her and lifting the pal above her head, pouring out what was left inside. "Now, we are even."

Lorelai reached on top of her head where her bandana was and touched the small amount that had came out before looking at Luke. "There was barely anything in it!"

"I had already used most of it when Rory started throwing it at you, and my handful was basically the last of it."

"I was worried you were going to make me look like those people at the kids choice awards."

Luke leaned toward her and set the empty paint can on the table behind her, her breath hitched at how close he had gotten then he moved back. "I'm not that cruel."

She smiled then reached up to his neck, wiping the paint away with her thumb. "Not as cruel as me anyways, I would have done it."

Luke stared at her. "I don't think you could have done it either."

Rory glanced over at them and cleared her throat, they both looked back at her. "Are we going to get back to painting, it's getting kind of late."

Lorelai stepped past Luke awkwardly and back towards her spot. "Yeah, we should probably do that."

The clock ticked one o'clock in the morning as Luke, Lorelai and Rory sat on the floor of the diner, all glancing around the room at the freshly painted walls.

Lorelai leaned back on her elbows and let out a breath. "Man, that was a lot of work."

"I know, I didn't expect it to take that long." Rory said.

Luke chimed in. "It wouldn't have if we didn't have to redo the parts you threw paint at."

"You did most the damage with your handfuls of paint." Lorelai told him.

"It was one handful, and I got most of it on you two."

"Either way, it's a good thing we got so much paint."

Luke smiled, taking a sip of his beer and gazing around the room. "It does look nice though."

"It does at that."

Luke noticed a bit of different colors on his shelf and leaned forward to look at it before glancing back at both of them. "Did you two paint your initials on the bottom of my shelf?"

Lorelai grinned. "How do you know we did it?"

"What other LG and RG was in here helping me paint?"

Rory elbowed Lorelai. "I told you we should have wrote the letters backwards."

Luke shook his head and smiled at them. "I guess if I'm going to have anyone's initials on the diner I would want it to be those." He said, earning a smile from both girls.

"Should we clean up so we can get home and get some sleep?" Rory asked.

"We definitely need it after all that work." Lorelai said sitting up, Luke stood up quickly and gave them both a hand getting off the floor.

At home that night Lorelai tossed and turned in her bed, she thought after everything they did at the diner she would have zonked the second her head hit the pillow. However this had not been the case because she had already been home an hour and was still awake. She slide over from the middle of the bed to the left side, the side she had been sleeping on the last week while Luke was staying in her room. She glanced over at his side of the bed, his former side of the bed that is, and couldn't help but to feel like something was missing. She had never in her life shared a bed with a man and now it seemed almost impossible to not be sleeping beside him. She decided having some warm pop tarts might help so she climbed off her bed and started to head downstairs, when she got to the staircase she saw the light of the television flinching in the living room and assumed Luke might have fallen asleep with in on. When she got halfway down the stairs she saw Luke on the couch, propped up on his elbow watching television.

Luke heard her hit the last stair and glanced over. "Sorry, the tv didn't wake you, did it?"

"No, I couldn't even hear it upstairs."

"What are you doing up then?" Luke asked, sitting up on the couch and leaving one leg bent against the back cushions and putting the other on the floor.

"Just having some trouble sleeping, what are you still doing up?"

"Same." Luke said, they both looked at each other knowing the real reason neither of them could fall asleep. "You wanna watch some television? The stuff on is horrible but it's better than sitting in the dark, staring at the ceiling."

"Sure." Lorelai said and walked over to the couch, before he had time to move to give her more room she sat next to his leg and laid her back against him. Luke set his arm on the back of the couch and Lorelai sank her head onto his shoulder. They didn't mind the closeness between them, in fact it was relaxing to feel each other's heart rates beating through their chests. They both were immediately relaxed and while they tried to stay awake during the infomercial to see if you could get a second George Foreman grill for free if you called now they weren't able to, they both drifted into a comfortable sleep. Rory stepped out of her room to use the bathroom and walked into the living room when she noticed the television on, she looked over at the couch and saw Lorelai wrapped up in his arms, both fast asleep. She wondered if these two were ever going to get a hint that they belonged together, or if they would remain in denial for the rest of their lives. She reached down on the coffee table and grabbed the television remote, clicking it off before leaving the room.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter, and again I had another outlined chapter that turned out longer so this chapter and the next one are partially connected. Let me know what you think, enjoy!

Lorelai had spent four days back in her bed alone since that one night she spent with Luke on the couch, and it had yet to get any easier to fall asleep without him next to her. Even when she managed to doze off she would wake back up suddenly and end up spending hours trying to fall back to sleep. It put her in a crabby mood, not only because it would be way too weird if she asked Luke to continue sleeping in her room but because she let herself get used to having another person beside her at night, especially when he was just a friend. She was the most independent person around, she raised a daughter on her own at sixteen so why couldn't she sleep without her friend next to her now? She needed something to take back her independence, she needed to prove she didn't need him.

Rory walked into the kitchen and looked at her. "No, put that away!"

Lorelai glanced down at the box of hamburger helper in her hand. "I wanna cook."

"You can make soup."

"No, I wanna really cook, like on the Food Channel. I wanna saute things and chop things and do the bam, and I wanna arrange things on a plate so they look like a pretty little hat. I wanna be the Iron Chef!"

Rory couldn't see a way of talking her out of it now and caved. "Fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll help."

"Okay, I need a pan."

"And a fire extinguisher." Rory joked as she kneeled down to the cupboard, grabbing a pan out.

"Funny, funny girl." Lorelai said then tapped her index finger on her chin. "Now, if I had only bought some hamburger."

Rory looked back at her shocked. "You didn't buy hamburger?"

"Yes, I bought hamburger. I just like saying things like that so you look at me like I'm crazy."

"So, tell me, why the sudden need to be domestic?" Rory said, setting the pan on the table and sitting down next to her.

"Ah, I don't know. I'm in like a funky mood."

"Why?"

"Too many stars, too much love, it makes me cranky." Lorelai said, referring to the firelight festival they had going on this coming weekend.

"Ah ha, are you sure you aren't cranky because you haven't slept well since Luke left your room?"

"How do you know I haven't slept well?"

"You have had black circles under your eyes the last four days."

"Great, now not only am I tired, I have to get new cover up too."

"It's fine that you are having trouble sleeping without Luke in there, you got used him being there while dad was here."

"I never said I was having trouble sleeping because of Luke."

"Then what is it?"

"People can have trouble sleeping, it doesn't have to be for any particular reason." Lorelai said then they heard the front door open.

"I think your particular reason just got home."

"I'm serious Rory, it's not because of-" She looked up seeing Luke walk into the kitchen. "Luke, hey Luke."

"Hey." He said then looked at the both of them a second before he noticed what was in Lorelai's hands. "No, put that away."

"She wants to cook." Rory stated.

"If you want hamburger helper I can make it for you."

"I don't need you to make it for me, I don't need anyone to do anything for me." Lorelai said defensively. "I am an adult, I can do it by myself."

Luke eyes widened at the tone of her voice. "Okay, I'm sorry. I know you can make it by yourself." He said calmly. "I'm gonna go shower."

"Luke." Lorelai said.

"I'll be back down after." Luke said and walked out of the room.

"Mom." Rory said.

"I know." Lorelai said, putting her hands into her palms.

"That is the sixth time you have snapped at him lately."

"I'll apologize when he gets back down here."

"Well, before he got here I was actually gonna bring something up to you."

"What's that?"

"I have this huge favor to ask you."

"Oh, something I can hold over your head. Let's hear it."

"Friday night is Dean's and my three month anniversary."

"Three months? Wow."

"And Dean apparently has some big fancy evening planned for us."

"Very classy of him."

"Yes, it is. But for me to actually partake of the aforesaid fancy evening, I have to get out of Friday night dinner."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

Lorelai grinned. "Good luck with that."

"Mom!"

"Do you know how much Emily Gilmore will not care about your three month anniversary?"

Rory squinted. "I was thinking you could talk to her."

"If there was a runoff between what Emily Gilmore would care about less, a two-for-one toilet paper sale at Costco or your three month anniversary, your anniversary would win, hands down."

"So you're not even gonna try to help me?"

Lorelai stood up from her chair and walked to the desk in the living room, Rory followed. "Oh no, I'm gonna try to help you, because I care. Emily Gilmore, however.."

Rory cut in, holding the phone up to her. "Phone please."

"Okay." Lorelai said dialing the number then she laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just, 'Oh, hey Mom, ah Rory and Dean are having their three month anniversary on Friday.'" Lorelai switched her voice. "'Really, Lorelai? Why, that's wonderful. I'm thrilled."

"Stop." Rory warned.

"'Three months. Well, woohoo. Hold on, I'm going to cartwheel.'"

"Forget it." Rory said walking back to the kitchen, Lorelai followed behind her smiling.

"Oh, no wait, she's telling my dad now. Why, I think they're cabbage patching."

"I liked it better when you were crabby."

"Hello?" Emily said from the other line.

"Mom?" Lorelai said, too caught up in her joke to think about what she would say once her mother answered. She walked out of the room and continued to talk to her till she got Rory out of Friday night dinner, which was rather easy. She was getting up to go tell Rory the news when Luke walked back downstairs, hair still damp from his shower. "Hey." She said awkwardly.

"Hey." Luke said, he opened his closet and threw his dirty clothes into the hamper before walking back towards Lorelai. "I think maybe I should stay at my place tonight, give you and Rory a little space."

"Luke, you don't have to do that." Lorelai said standing up.

"I don't mind, I think it would probably be best."

"Luke, no. I'm so sorry that I have been snapping at you lately but that has nothing to do with anything you have done."

"Why is it then? Because you have been exploding on me for days now."

"I haven't been sleeping much the last few nights, I know it probably sounds stupid but I got used to you being in my bed with me." Lorelai said as she took a seat back on the couch.

Luke walked over and sat down next to her. "Do you want me to keep sleeping up there?"

"No, I need to get over it. It's not like you will be living here forever so I should get used to it already. I feel like an idiot for bringing it up but I don't want you to think I'm mad at you."

"You're not an idiot, I've been having trouble sleeping too."

"Really?" Lorelai asked, looking over at him.

"Yes, I think it's like when puppies leave their family for the first time. They got used to having something warm and comforting next to them at night then they get stuck in a crate all by themselves. It takes awhile to get used to someone not being there, but eventually you forgot the feeling, then it doesn't seem as hard."

"You know they also say you can take a blanket and get the mother's scent on it then lay it next to the puppy at night, do you want to go roll around on my bed to leave your scent?"

"I'm glad your sleep deprivation hasn't clouded your humor."

Rory walked out into the living room and sat in the chair near Lorelai. "So, what did grandma say?"

"That the world is officially coming to an end." Lorelai joked.

"What?"

"She said yes."

"Really?"

"I couldn't believe it myself."

Luke looked at both of them oddly. "Couldn't believe what?"

"Grandma is letting me skip Friday night dinner this week so I can go to the festival with Dean." Rory explained.

"Dean, you haven't broken up with that punk yet?"

"He is not a punk." Rory said. "Luke, you really should get to know him better, I think you would get along well."

"I have spent time with him, he is here all the time."

Lorelai smiled. "You grunt at him till he stops talking."

"I do not."

"Last week he was talking about a paper he was working on for his government class and all you did was look over at him and it made him stop dead sentence, now I will never know his option on how the supreme court's really work."

"Well he kept going on and on about it, it was seven-thirty and we still hadn't gotten to the movie."

"Can you just try and talk to him?" Rory asked. "You will see that he isn't as bad as you make him out to be."

"Fine, I'll try talking to him sometime."

"Good, I invited him over for a movie night tonight."

"I have to talk to him tonight?"

Rory stood up from her chair. "Yes, and be nice." She said as she walked to her room.

"She gets that from you, you know that right?"

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, I know."

About a hour later Lorelai and Rory went on a store run, leaving Luke to let Dean in once he arrived. Luke didn't want to talk to this kid that he assumed wouldn't make it another three months with Rory but once she insisted he talk to him he couldn't let her down. He heard a knock at the door and walked over and opened it, Dean walked inside pizza in hand as he always did on their movie nights.

"Hey, Luke." Dean said, using his foot to close the door behind him.

"Hey."

Dean looked around, not seeing or hearing either of the girls. "Where are they?"

"They went to pick up more twizzlers, we thought we had enough but Lorelai wandered downstairs last night and got into them."

"She eat them all?"

"She left one fourth of one and half of another."

"Rory hates when she does that." Dean said with a chuckle.

"Come in and sit down." Luke said nodding toward the living room then Dean followed him and set the pizza down on the coffee table before he took a seat on the couch. Luke sat down next him making Dean glance over at him nervously. "What?"

"Nothing." Dean said, looking away quickly.

They both sat in silence a moment till Luke spoke up. "So Dean, how did that paper you were working on go?"

"Paper?"

"The one you were telling us about last week, for your government class."

"Oh, it went good, I got a B."

"Hey, congrats." Luke said, bumping his fist into Dean's arm. "B, that's a good grade."

"Well not as good as Rory, she gets straight A's."

"Yeah, but no one is as good as Rory."

"You're right about that." Dean said with a smile.

"She was telling me you have been together three months now."

"Yeah, three months."

"That's a bit of a milestone for a person at your age."

"You've been with Lorelai close to three months."

"When you get to our age three months isn't as crazy."

"But being engaged is a pretty big step."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"A step you took after a few weeks."

Luke looked over at Dean, feeling like he might be figuring something out. "What are you getting at?"

Dean took a deep breath and looked at him. "I want to take my relationship with Rory to the next step."

Luke nodded to himself before standing up. "Alright, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but get outside." He said pointing to the door.

"What?" Dean asked confused.

"Lorelai has far too much crap in this living room, if I'm gonna kick your ass it's gonna be outside."

Dean quickly realized how what he said must have sounded. "No, no, no. I'm not talking about the next step you are thinking I am talking about."

"What were you talking about then?"

"I want to tell Rory I love her."

Luke sat back down next to him. "You want to tell her you love her?"

"I do, and I'm not trying to say it for the reason most guys do, I know it is way too early for any of that. I'm saying it because that's the way I feel." Luke nodded. "What do you think?"

"I don't know, personally I never thought anyone had to say I love you."

"What?" Dean asked surprised.

"Anyone can say I love you, but the real trick is showing them you love them."

"How do I show her that?"

"You treat her good and you try to give her everything you can, your time, your attention, your love, and that is how you really say I love you."

"How will I know if she loves me back?"

"If she does the same for you."

"Did you ever tell Lorelai you love her?"

Luke smiled and shook his head. "No."

"But you do love her?"

"I have loved Lorelai for the last five years, I don't think she ever realized that."

"What if Rory doesn't notice?"

"With Lorelai it was different, we were always just friends. It will be clearer when you are already dating."

Dean nodded. "Thanks for talking about this with me, I know you're not a big fan of feelings talks."

"You are important to Rory so I'm always here for you, you know unless you hurt her in any way, then I'll have kill you."

"We're home." Lorelai yelled, walking in the front door. "They had a sale on some of the stuff in their goodie bins so we got Jelly Beans, all cinnamon." She said, holding up a giant bag of Jelly Beans as they walked into the living room.

"Taylor yelled at her for digging through the bins with her bare hands." Rory said.

"He called me an animal, which I then argued because animals don't have hands, they have paws."

"It was a very lengthy argument." Rory said then she noticed the boys sitting next to each other. "What's going on here?"

"We were just talking." Luke said, putting emphasis of talking.

"Oh." Rory said then she looked over at Lorelai.

"We should get this ice cream in the freezer before it melts." Lorelai said, gesturing towards the kitchen.

"Yeah." Rory replied then they both walked to the kitchen. "I told you we should have hurried home instead of sifting through candy."

"Relax, Dean is still alive which is a good sign." Lorelai said, putting the groceries away.

"Yeah, but what do you think Luke said to him while we weren't here."

"Well, we will get a pretty good idea of what if Dean is no longer in the country tomorrow."

"You think Luke was nice to him?"

"I'm not sure, let's get back out there and you can watch for visible shaking." Lorelai said then they walked back out to the living room.

After the movie Rory walked Dean out and Lorelai looked over at Luke.

"What?" He asked, noticing her staring at him.

"What were you and Dean talking about before we got here?"

"Nothing much." Luke said, looking away.

"What did you say to him?" Lorelai asked, worried that he was no longer making eye contact with her.

"I didn't say anything mean, we just talked."

"Just talked?"

"Yes, it was guy talk."

"Sports, hunting, spitting?"

"We talked about you and Rory."

"Really?" Lorelai said surprised. "What kind of stuff came up about us?"

"It was a private conversation between Dean and I, I'm not going to tell you every part of it."

"Why? We're you two talking about dirty stuff?"

Luke winced. "You really think I would talk about that kind of stuff with your daughter's boyfriend?"

"I don't know, you said it was guy talk."

"Yeah, guy's talking about stuff, not locker room talk."

"Okay, fine. You don't have to tell me, I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

Lorelai sat quiet a moment then turned to him. "Come on, just tell me."

"Great job dropping in."

"Luke." She whined.

"I need to get some sleep for work tomorrow, and you are currently sitting on my bed." Luke said, pointing to the couch.

"Fine, but I will get it out of you at some point." Lorelai said standing up. "Night, Luke."

"Night, Lorelai." He said then she started walking away. "And if you have trouble sleeping tonight, I'm right down here if you need me."

"You think pretty highly of yourself if you think I need you." Lorelai said with a smile before walking upstairs. She changed into her pajamas and got into bed, after a few minutes it was clear she wasn't getting good sleep tonight either. "Crap, I need him." She said to herself before burying her face into her pillow.

The next morning she was crankier than ever, again she could not sleep without him beside her and it was frustrating her more than everything. She needed coffee if she was going to make it through the day without biting somebody's head off, luckily she knew just the place to go for a strong cup of joe. She walked the square, looking around at all the ridiculous firelight festival decorations being put up. Out of nowhere a star fell in front of her, a papier mache one.

"Ahh." She yelped, scared by the object breaking into pieces in front of her.

"Hey, you okay?" The guy near her asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Man, that has never happened before!" The guy said, completely surprised.

"Really? How about that." Lorelai said as she walked around the shattered pieces. She found her way into the diner and walked straight up to the counter by Luke. "I was almost crushed by a papier mache star. How's your day?"

"Well, it's looking pretty good now." Luke said, looking up at her.

"Coffee please, and a shot of cynicism."

"So, why so cheery?" Luke asked, pouring her a cup of coffee.

"I don't know, I'm just in a mood. I don't know why."

"I think I know a particular reason for this mood."

"Okay, Rory."

"What?" Luke asked unsurely.

"Nothing, I'm just tired."

"I kind of figured." Luke said with a cocky grin.

Lorelai pointed her index finger at him. "Don't start with me."

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't function when I'm not around."

"Can you pour me another cup of coffee? I'm not sure this one is hot enough to throw in your face." Lorelai said then they heard Patty and Taylor arguing about the festival behind them. "Ugh, can't nobody talk about anything else but this stupid festival?" She said loudly. "That came out a lot louder then it was supposed to, didn't it?"

"Yup." Luke nodded and went over to fill their coffees.

"Yup." Lorelai said to herself then turned to face them.

"This festival is commemorating the founding of our town, young lady." Taylor said.

"I know Taylor, I'm sorry."

Luke finished pouring their coffee and looked up at Lorelai. "She's crabby because she can't get enough of me." He said and Lorelai shook her head at him.

Patty turned around and looked at Lorelai. "I understand the dilemma."

"Ah, can I get you two anything else?" Luke asked.

"Oh, no thank you, sweetheart." Patty said then Luke walked back to the counter. "Are you two coming to the festival tonight?"

"Ah, I don't know." Lorelai said. "I got that dinner at my parents house.

"Oh but you have to go, it is your first firelight festival as a couple."

"I mean, I guess we could show up after I get back from the dinner." Lorelai said, looking at Luke for confirmation.

"You're gonna make me go to the event you called stupid two minutes ago? I thought we were finally on the same page."

"Patty makes a good point, it is our first festival together, it might be nice to go and spend some time together. You know, since I can't get enough of you." Lorelai said with an evil grin.

"You have to come, you'll see how magical standing next to that big fire with your sweetheart wrapped in your arms can be."

"We will be there, right Luke?"

"I guess I will have to be."

Lorelai smiled at him. "Seriously though, I'm gonna another cup of coffee if I'm gonna make it till tonight."

"You got that cup five minutes ago, you do not need another." He said then Lorelai smiled and stood up walking behind the counter. "No."

"Let me by and I won't make you go tonight." Lorelai suggested and he stepped aside. "Sucker." She said grabbing the coffee pot when the diner door opened.

"Hey, how's it going?" A female voice said from behind Lorelai, Luke turned around and looked at her shocked.

"Rachel?"

"Rachel, your Rachel?" Lorelai asked looking up from pouring. "You're Rachel."

"Yup, I'm Rachel." She answered kindly, Luke stood silently looking between the two women. "I know you aren't a man of many words but you could say something, try a simple hello."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in the Congo or Philadelphia or something."

Rachel grinned taking a seat next to where Lorelai had been sitting. "Actually, though very similar to both the Congo and Philadelphia, I was in the Mideast."

"Oh, guess that postcard must've gotten lost."

"Yeah, yeah, well things got pretty crazy over there, not a lot of writing time. But I finished up my assignment, and I flew back to Chicago and I was walking through O'Hare, and I look up and there's a plane leaving for Hartford in like twenty minutes, and all of a sudden I'm on it."

"Nice story." Luke said sarcastically.

"I should have called."

"No, you didn't have to, it's fine."

"You look good." She said and Luke looked over at Lorelai.

"He thinks you look good too, right?" Lorelai asked, looking at Luke but he did not say a word so she looked back at Rachel. "You do look good."

Rachel smiled at her. "Thank you."

"I'm Lorelai."

"Lorelai, nice to meet you. Do you work here?"

"She ah, ah she works at the Independence Inn."

Lorelai looked over at him. "I run it actually."

"She runs it." Luke said, correctly himself.

"I snuck back here to steal coffee." Lorelai said then walked over and took a seat next to her.

"Independence Inn, I love that place. That must be a pretty big job."

"It is, it's crazy, there's always something happening. Like, we just put these coffee makers in all the rooms, but only half of them work. They just like shake and gurgle, like they're having some kind of a fit." Lorelai stopped thinking about how much she was explaining to this stranger. "Why were you in the Mideast?"

"I was doing a photo story on how Palestinian and Israeli families have been affected by the violence."

"Ah huh, well, so you understand about the job pressure."

"Yeah." Rachel said with a small laugh.

"I'm gonna go." Lorelai said, standing up.

"Please, don't let me drive you away."

"That's okay, you're not, I have to go sit in a closet or something. So, it was really nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too."

"Okay, bye." Lorelai said, taking one last look at Luke before leaving.

She couldn't believe what an idiot she had made of herself, going on and on about coffee machines with Luke's ex girlfriend. She could talk to Anna without babbling like an a fool but as soon as Rachel walked in she seemed to have lost all motor skills.

"'Oh, we got new coffee makers." Lorelai said, mimicking herself. "Ugh, what was I thinking?"

"Well, you spent a lot of time picking out those coffee makers." Rory said.

"Oh yeah, I'm Missus Coffee." Lorelai said, taking her stress out by brushing Rory's hair.

"Ah, okay, hair still attached to the head." Rory said pulling away.

"Okay, sorry. I'm a little worked up."

"Mom, it's just Luke's ex girlfriend.

"I know. I just hate that I made myself look so stupid in front of-"

Rory cut in. "Luke?"

"No, Rachel. She was standing there, fresh off a plane, and she had no plane hair at all might I add."

"And what exactly is plane hair?"

"You know, it's all big and all-" She lifted Rory's hair up. "Bah."

"Got it."

"And he didn't even tell her who I was, he didn't tell her my name or that I am his fiancee."

"But you aren't his fiancee."

"Yes, but we agreed that is what we would tell people." Lorelai said, brushing her hair roughly again.

"Ow, ow, okay, you are officially off hair duty." Rory said, taking the brush from her and setting in on her dresser.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I just-"

Rory cut her off. "No, it's okay. I just think it's a little early for Dean to see me completely bald."

"Right, that's more a six month thing."

Rory walked over and sat on her bed, Lorelai followed sitting at the end of it. "This is one of his oldest friends, maybe he knows she can keep it a secert the same way me and Sookie have for you."

"It's different, we tell each other everything. Luke hasn't even talked to this women in six years."

"It's his childhood sweetheart, they have a connection that goes way back just like you and dad."

"I lied to Christopher about it."

"We don't know that Luke isn't going to say you are engaged, maybe he was just shocked to see her and didn't think about it."

"Or maybe he didn't tell her because he wants her back, he told me every time she came back he falls for her all over again and what if that's happening now."

"What would be so bad about that? If he wants to be with her." Rory said, pretending she didn't realize the real reason Lorelai was upset she was here.

"She will just break his heart again, she will leave and Luke will be all alone."

"You could talk to Luke, tell him you are worried about Rachel being here."

"That will sound like I'm telling him not to date her."

"So, tell him not to date her."

"What?"

"You're spending all your time pretending to be with him and if he starts something with Rachel it will wreck the plan and the whole town will find out that you lied to them."

"I can't ask him not to date her, he's a grown man that makes his own choices."

"Well then just wait and see what happens, you might be getting way ahead of yourself, maybe he doesn't even want her back."

"Yeah, maybe not." Lorelai said, not believing that could be true.

Luke glanced around the festival, if anyone would have asked why he was there he would have said he was waiting for Lorelai but truthfully he was hiding out from Rachel. He knew her since they were kids and he was going to have to tell her his lie, he wasn't sure if she would be able to tell he wasn't being truthful and call him on it. He heard a click and looked up, Rachel was walking towards him snapping pictures of him sitting on the bench alone. She walked up and sat next to him, removing the used film from her camera.

"You getting good stuff?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah, the firelight really changes people. You know, makes them seem happier, freer, all troubles of the world completely gone."

"I don't think that's the firelight, I think it's the Founder's Day party punch they've been selling."

"Oh yeah, that stuff is good."

"Okay, at some point are you gonna tell me what you're doing here?" Luke asked bluntly.

"I'm putting more film in my camera." She said, smiling over at him.

"Rachel."

"What? I told you. I was at the airport, now I'm here."

"Oh well sure, when you put it like that."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't sound all that happy to see me."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have a tendency to show up and then leave, quite suddenly. Not one of your more charming attributes."

"So you're not happy to see me?" She asked, he ignored her question. "Luke, I don't know what I'm doing here. I just missed you, I wanted to see you, I don't know what else to say."

"Okay."

"So since we're both being blunt, what's the deal with Lorelai?"

Luke looked over at her. "We're engaged."

"Woah." Rachel said, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't expect that."

"Let me guess, you expected me to be secretly in love with her while she doesn't have a clue about it?"

Rachel smiled. "It did take you twelve years to ask me out."

"We were four when we met, did you expect me to invite you back to my place for a couple juice boxes?"

"No, but when we were fifthteen I thought you would stop me from going out with Alex Henderson, the only reason I let him take me on a date in the first place was to make you jealous."

"That is really why?"

"Yes, and it would have saved me one very awkward night of slapping his hand away from my boobs if you would have just told me."

Luke smiled. "I just saw Alex awhile back, he's got a wife and four kids now so I think you set him straight."

"I think you threatening to break every bone in his body if he treated a girl with that much disrespect again might have helped too." She said, bumping her shoulder into his.

"Seems like such a long time ago now."

"Now you're engaged."

Luke nodded. "Yeah."

"And she makes you happy?"

"She makes me happy, angry, crazy and about seven other emotions just before noon."

"I'm very happy for you, Luke." Rachel said sincerely.

"Thanks."

"I'm going to go take some more pictures, then I should probably find a room for tonight."

"You can stay at my place."

"I don't think Lorelai would be very happy about that."

"I don't mean with me, I live at Lorelai's house. You can stay at my old place while you are in town."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Thank you, Luke."

"No problem."

"I'm gonna get some of that party punch, you want some?" Rachel said, standing up.

"That stuff will kill you."

"Oh Luke, some things never change." She said then walked away, seconds after Lorelai appeared and sat down next to Luke.

"Hey, where the hell's the fire department when you need them?"

"Hey, when did you get here?" Luke asked.

"Just awhile ago."

"Did you see Harry and Taylor get it a fist fight?" Luke asked with a laugh.

Lorelai smiled big. "No, I missed that!"

"It was good."

Lorelai looked around the festival. "So, where's Rachel?"

"She's a founders day punch junkie."

"God, even the nice girls aren't safe."

"Yeah, she's been running around here taking all kinds of pictures."

"She's having a good time?"

"I think so, I hope so." Luke said then looked over at Lorelai. "I told her about us."

"Which about us do you mean?"

"The fake one."

"How'd she take it?"

"She said she is happy for me, she's gonna stay at my old apartment while she is visiting the town." Luke said then they sat there quiet a moment. "So how was dinner?"

"My mother invited some guy over to set me up with."

"She did?" Luke asked curiously.

"I thought something was up when she let Rory out of dinner so easily, and now I know why."

"How was it?"

"So, so bad, just awful. I snuck out my old bedroom window and my dad caught me, he ended up covering for me though."

Luke chuckled. "Sounds like an eventful night."

"I'm home safe now, and you know what would really make my night."

"What's that?"

Lorelai grinned. "If you eat some cotton candy."

"It would really bring you that much joy to see me eat strawberry flavored death?"

"Yes, and now I know your flavor preference. I myself go for the blue raspberry flavored doom." She stood up and grabbed onto to his arm, pulling him along with her to the cotton candy stand. "Strawberry and blue raspberry, please." She said handing the man some money, he handed her two bags of cotton candy in return then her and Luke moved away from the stand. Lorelai opened the bag of pink candy and pulled a piece out, moving it towards Luke. "Open up for the airplane!"

"If you call it an airplane I'm not going to eat it."

Lorelai continued waving the piece in front of his face. "Come on, Luke, crash landing, you are the only one who can save them!" She switched to a high pitched voice. "Save us Luke, helppp!" She said and flew in up towards his mouth. He rolled his eyes at her then opened his mouth, letting her put the piece inside. "Good?"

"Worth the extra year off my life."

"I don't think one bite will take off a year, maybe three hours at the most."

"It will be a year when I'm done." Luke said, grabbing the bag away from her.

"Ah, I got you to cave!" Lorelai said excitedly. "You'll be eating deep fried ice cream by next week."

"Not gonna happen." He said, taking another bite.

"Admit it, I broke you."

"Never."

She smiled over at him then grabbed out a piece of her's. "Here, try the blue raspberry."

He took it from her and tried it. "Mine's better."

"Are we four years old now?"

"Try this." Luke said then lifted up piece and put it into Lorelai's mouth.

"That is better, why have I been buying this blue crap?" Lorelai said, reaching into Luke's bag and grabbing out more. As they walked she linked arms with Luke and he looked over at her. "It's our first festival as couple, we need to get into character."

Luke smiled at her and they walked up to the giant fire that was lite in the town square, they stopped to look at it and Luke wrapped his arm around her while she rested her head on his shoulder. They may not of been a real couple like they were pretending to be, but this gesture they shared could have fooled anybody.


	9. Chapter 9

Another A/N: There was an error yesterday when I updated this story and it ended up not showing up as having a new chapter, somehow a few people were still able to see it if they directly searched for the story or found it along with last weeks story update. So if you already seen it, sorry. If you haven't then hopefully this is showing up the right way now!

A/N: I meant to post this chapter yesterday and completely spaced it, but here it is now! This is the last chapter I have fully written but my others are already outlined, sorry if it ends up taking longer to post the next one because of it. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Since he had been staying at the Gilmore house for about month now Luke rarely found time for himself, not that this was a bad thing, he loved hanging out with the two of them more than anything but for someone that lived alone for so long it could get a little too crowded for him at times. He had tried to go running every morning but with the girls keeping him up so late watching movies at night he had resorted to sleeping in till work most every morning, but today however he didn't have to be into work till later in the day so he decided it would be a good time to go for one of his morning runs. With most of the town still asleep, he ran the streets as the sun rose further into the sky. When he reached a small path near a stretch of trees he saw Rachel, she was focused completely on the photo she was taking of the sun beams passing through the trees.

"Morning." Luke said, walking up behind her.

"Morning." Rachel said then turned to him, she looked away from her camera and smiled. "I'm going around getting photo's of the town."

"It's that time of the day."

"I always liked morning shots."

"I remember."

Rachel glanced at him, noticing his sweatpants and sweatshirt attire and the reddish tint to his face. "Morning run?"

"Yeah." Luke said with a nod.

"So Lorelai's not a runner?"

"Not unless she hears the beginning credits of a movie or anything that involves food."

Rachel chuckled. "That is probably a good thing, you were never a fan of me running with you."

"Because you were the only person I knew who could run faster than me and you would tease me constantly for it, do you not remember that part?"

"I remember, I just wanted you to admit I was faster." She said, making Luke smile. "Want to race?"

"I don't know about tha-"

"Go!" She yelled, cutting him off then she started running.

"Wait." Luke said, running after her to try and catch up. He chased shortly behind her till they stopped just shy of a small footbridge, Luke bend down putting his hands on his knees and took a breath. "How can you run that fast with a camera bag?"

"I got used to running with it." Rachel said as they started walking the bridge, and through more of the path.

"Do you run after cheetahs?"

"I've tried a couple times, they are a bit out of my league."

They reached the end of the path and came out near an old abandoned Inn, Luke looked at it closely. "Is this Dragonfly?"

"I forgot this was back here." Rachel said, pulling her camera out from it's bag.

Luke walked around the front porch while she took pictures, he peaked in through the windows and looked at the structure of the building. "This place has good bones." He said, walking back over to Rachel. "The porch needs to be completely redone, new shutters and some paint would help."

"You thinking about buying the Dragonfly Inn?"

"No, not me. Lorelai and her best friend are always talking about opening their own inn someday, I think they would really like this place."

"You think Fran would sell it?" Rachel said, taking a seat on the front steps. "She always turns down offers in the past."

Luke looked at the building again before sitting down next to her. "I'm not even sure if they would want it, but if they did I could talk to her."

Rachel looked over at Luke and smiled. "You really care about her."

"Fran?" Luke asked unsurely.

"Lorelai." She said with a chuckle. "You seem like you would do anything for her."

"I would."

"Lucky girl."

"What about you, you have any guys chasing you around the world?"

Rachel smirked. "Not any that I want chasing me."

"You've had to have meet someone you liked."

"I didn't look very hard, I kind of just assumed I'd end up with you someday."

Luke paused a second then looked over at her. "What?"

"It's stupid of me to think I could just come and go all the time and when I finally decided to settle down you'd be here waiting for me."

"Rachel."

"No, no." Rachel said quietly. "I didn't want this to be weird, I'm not asking you to leave Lorelai or anything like that. I am actually very happy you found someone, I just wanted to let you know that you meant something to me, and now I can move on."

Luke smiled weakly. "I'm sorry I couldn't be the guy that was always there for you."

"You be the guy who is always there for Lorelai, I'll be okay."

"So, you came back for me?"

"Kind of, I knew it was possible you had moved on. In the past I always had lucky timing, you had usually were single or just gotten out of a relationship like with Anna."

"Anna." Luke said with a laugh.

"Sorry, blast from the past?"

"No, I see Anna every week now."

"You do?" Rachel asked and Luke nodded awkwardly. "You aren't, you know, with Anna?"

"No!" Luke replied defensively. "You know me better than that."

"Well, you looked so guilty when I brought her up."

"We have a daughter together, her name is April."

Rachel looked at him surprised. "You have a kid?"

"I do."

"You dated Anna again after I left?"

"April is seven, she didn't tell me about her. Then I bumped into them at a store a few weeks back."

"Does Lorelai know about this?"

"She is the first person I told, she's been really helpful with everything and her and Anna seem to get along well."

"Why didn't Anna tell you about her?"

"She came to talk to me once after we broke up, that time you were staying with me."

"That explains why she got so upset."

"Yup."

"So, how you like being a dad?"

"It was really weird at first, I was worried I'd say or do the wrong thing and she would hate me. But she's a great kid and she likes seeing me, she even calls me dad." Luke said, making Rachel laugh. "Why is that so funny?"

"It's just funny to think of you getting called dad, I knew you before you could pronounce your R's correctly."

Luke chuckled. "I always called you Wachel."

"And I thought you were teasing me in some way so I kicked you in the leg."

"Then you proudly told all the boys in preschool that you made me cry, totally messed up my rep."

Rachel laughed. "We've came a long way since then, you're a dad now."

"I still don't believe it myself, I just hope I don't screw it up."

"You won't, I always knew you'd be a great dad."

"She gave me a picture of her plant she grew in school, she told me it reminded her of how we grow with time and love and it made me think about all the years I wasn't there to tuck her in at night, read her bedtime stories and check her closet for monsters. I didn't get to see her first steps, or hear her first word. I wish I could have been there, but I also don't blame Anna for keeping her from me."

"How could you not blame her?"

"Lorelai's daughter, Rory, has a dad who hasn't been a big part of her life. He wouldn't call or show up when he was supposed to and that killed her, and it killed Lorelai to see her so disappointed. So if Anna believed I could have caused that same pain to April then I'm glad she didn't tell me. Even if I knew that wasn't true and no matter how much I wish I could have been there, it made it easier knowing she had someone who cared enough to make sure our daughter was happy."

"Sounds like she has two pretty incredible parents."

"Well till she hits her teen years, I don't know what I'm going to do once the subject of boys comes up."

"I'm sure you will scare some sense into them and they will treat her good."

"I hope I can scare them away completely."

"I'm sure you could, but when your little girl tells you she likes him you will soften up and cave."

"Luckily I have years before I have to deal with that kind of stuff."

"I'll have take a trip back here in a few years to make sure you haven't committed any felonies."

"So, you're leaving?"

"I got a nine o'clock flight tomorrow morning."

"Do you need a ride to the airport?"

"I'll take a cab."

"I'll make you breakfast before you leave, at the diner, and we can say goodbye."

Rachel smiled. "Okay, I'm looking forward to it."

"I should be getting home now, the girls will be waking up soon." Luke said standing up.

Rachel stood up. "You going to tell Lorelai about the inn?"

"I think I'll talk to Fran first, make sure buying it is even an option before I get her excited."

"Good idea."

"Well, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Luke." Rachel said then walked walked off.

Back at home Lorelai started waking up again, she had been awake an hour before but ended up going back to sleep after she saw Luke had already left. She was still having trouble getting sleep but it wasn't as bad as it had been the first few nights. She got a great night's rest after the firelight festival, her and Luke had stayed a few hours and all the worry about Rachel being there disappeared. But the last few days while she was in town it had came back, Luke was spending time with her and she was helping him out at the diner while she was staying at his old place. She didn't peg Rachel as the type of girl to go for a soon to be married man but then again she didn't know her that well, besides Luke could have caved and told her the truth by now. She told herself she was worried about Luke getting caught lying and losing April which was a big part of it too, but deep down it felt strange thinking of Luke with another girl. She worked up the energy to climb out of bed, grabbed a couple towels and her robe before heading towards the bathroom. When she got into the hallway she almost ran into Luke who was about to go into the bathroom.

"Hey." Luke said, stopping shy of the door.

"Morning." Lorelai said, looking at him through her tired eyes. "You were gone so long I figured you were at work already."

"No, I don't work till later, I went for a run."

"You run way too long."

"I wasn't running the whole time, I was with Rachel."

Lorelai nodded. "Oh, with Rachel?"

"Yeah, talking, catching up, stuff like that." Luke said then looked over at the bathroom door. "Are you about to take a shower?"

"Ah, yeah."

"I'll just shower at my place." Luke said, getting ready to walk away.

"I won't be that long."

"I know, but I want to wash the sweat off and I have some stuff to do."

"You said you don't work till later."

Luke glanced around awkwardly, avoided making eye contact with her. "It's not work related, I just have something to do."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you later then."

"I'll be home at eight, so if you and Rory want some dinner stop by the diner."

"We're doing movie night so we'll probably just order pizza."

"Okay, I'll ah, see you later." Luke said then disappeared downstairs. Lorelai snuck down the staircase quietly as she heard him digging through his closet, she backed up when she saw him walking towards the front door with a black pair of slacks, a button up shirt and a pair of dress shoes in his hands. He left the house and Lorelai took a seat on the stair she had been standing on, she took a deep breath and covered her mouth with her hand. She was pretty sure she knew what was going on now.

Luke freshly showered and all dressed up sat at a table at Westons, waiting for Fran to find a minute to come sit with him. Fran walked over to him, smiling as he got up and helped her take a seat before returning to his.

"Thanks for meeting with me, Fran."

"I've always got time for an old friend, Lucas. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to ask you about your Inn, the Dragonfly. I'd really like to buy the inn from you, along with Lorelai and Sookie."

"My family has a lot of history with that Inn, yours too. Me and your mother had sleepovers there all the time as kids, it's where we meet your father."

"Lorelai and Sookie would honor the family legacy of the place, they'd be perfect owners."

"If it were only up to me I'd be happy to sell it to you Lucas, you are basically family. But I'll have to talk to my sister about it, she's on dialysis right now and not doing so well."

"I'm really sorry to hear about Barbara, I hope she recovers soon."

"I told her about you and Lorelai, and she said to tell you congratulations."

"Tell her thank you." Luke said with a smile. "And no pressure on selling, if either of you don't want to it's okay."

"If she says she is okay with it I don't see any reason we couldn't sell it to you."

"Thank you."

"Now let me get you some pie." Fran said standing up.

"Fran-" Luke said, trying to stop her.

"I'm getting you strawberry rhubarb, it was always your favorite as a kid." She said ignoring him as she walked to the counter, he smiled to himself.

Later that evening Lorelai and Rory were back at the house, already halfway through their first movie. Rory kept the commentary going by herself most the time, Lorelai sat quietly on the couch swinging around the twizzler in her hand. Rory glanced over at Lorelai then grabbed the remote and paused the movie, Lorelai hearing to sudden loss of sound looked up at the television.

"Hey, what'd you stop it?" Lorelai asked, looking at Rory.

"You don't seem as into this as you usually are, is something wrong?"

"Just thinking about some stuff."

"Luke stuff?"

"What gave it away?"

"I've seen you act like this anytime you are in a fight with him, so what'd he do?"

"We aren't in a fight." Lorelai said, picking at the side of her candy with her finger nail. "I'm overthinking something that happened earlier."

"What happened earlier?"

"Luke came home from a run and he was acting all strange, I brought up that he had been running for a long time and he said he was talking to Rachel too."

"About what?"

"I didn't ask, he just said they were catching up, then he wanted to shower but I was about to use it so he said he would go back to his place and take one. I told him I wouldn't be long but he said he wanted to wash the sweat off and that he had something to do, I got him to tell me it was non work related but that's all."

"Maybe he just wanted to shower after his run and do some shopping or something."

"Why wouldn't he just say that then?"

"Because anytime he tells you he is going to the store you give him a long list of junk to buy."

"He was acting different, like he was up to something."

"And you think that something was Rachel related?"

"It makes sense, he ran into her and they catch up. One of them make a move then bam, secret rendezvous."

"Yes, or he just went shopping, or a millon other reasonable things." Rory said sarcastically.

"He wore fancy clothes."

"How do you know that?"

"I watched him leaving the house after we talked, he was bringing nice clothing with him."

"You were spying on Luke?"

"You can't spy in your own house."

"Where we you when you were watching him leave?"

"Hiding behind that wall." Lorelai said, pointing to wall at the middle of the staircase.

"Spying."

"You're making it seem a lot worse that it was."

"You should have just talked to Luke about it like I suggested, then you wouldn't have to be worried about it."

"Are you saying I should have told Luke not to date her because you think he is dating her again?"

"That's not what I said."

"It's what you are making it sound like."

Rory exhaled. "Can we watch the movie and not worry about this till you talk to him?"

"Okay, play the movie." Lorelai said then Rory started the movie back up.

At the diner Luke closed up and starting wiping down the tables when he got a phone call from Fran, she told him she had talked to her sister and they both agreed it would be a good idea to sell the Inn to him and the girls. The two talked numbers, coming to a price that was great for the both of them and Luke asked if it would be okay if he could show it to them before they go any further, she told him to come over to Weston's pick up a key before he went home. He got home later than usual after stopping and talking with her for awhile about his plans to show them it tomorrow, which Lorelai noticed looking at the clock as the front door opened.

Luke kicked off his shoes and walked into the living room. "Hey."

Rory paused the movie and looked at her watch. "Kirk wouldn't leave?"

"What?"

"Mom said you would be off work at eight."

"Oh, I had to run a few errands after I cleaned up."

"Dry cleaning?" Lorelai asked.

Luke glanced at her oddly. "No, I have a washer."

"Dry cleaning is for fancy clothes."

Rory elbowed Lorelai then looked back at Luke. "You want to watch the movie with us? We just started this one so we could catch you up."

"No thanks." He told Rory then looked at Lorelai. "I'm actually really tired so is it okay if I sleep upstairs till you are ready for bed?"

"Go for it." Lorelai said.

"Thanks, night." Luke said and walked up the stairs.

Rory looked over at Lorelai. "Okay, he was acting really strange."

"I told you!" Lorelai said, pointing her index finger at her. "And when does Luke ever say words like errands?"

"You think he was with Rachel?"

"He told me about this, he said every time she comes he falls for her again. I should have stopped it, and now he is in love with her again."

"Maybe things will work out this time, she might be ready to stay."

"That is even worse."

"Why is that worse? I thought you didn't want her to break his heart again."

"What will Anna think if he does this again? He did it when he dated her, Rachel came back then suddenly Anna and him were over."

"He said they were already broken up."

"Anna might have told Luke about April if Rachel wasn't there when she came to see him at the diner."

"She said that wasn't why, she didn't think Luke was ready."

"This is still going to end badly, I know it."

"Will you just go talk to Luke before you have a panic attack."

"That isn't Luke upstairs, it's some robot who says things like 'errands'."

"Go upstairs, talk, and see what he has to say."

"Fine." Lorelai said standing up from the couch. She walked upstairs and peeked into the bedroom where Luke was lying in bed, already fast asleep. She decided to leave him be and go back downstairs, sitting on the couch next to Rory again. "He's asleep."

"That was quick."

"He's probably wore out after the day he had."

"I know what you are hinting at and gross, mom."

"Play the movie." Lorelai said, not wanting to talk about him anymore. Once they were finished with the three movies they had picked out Rory went to bed and Lorelai went upstairs to her room, she changed into her pajamas in the bathroom then sat down on her bed next to Luke. She looked at Luke who was facing her side on the bed then she reached over and placed her hand on his arm, rubbing it lightly to wake him.

"Luke, hey Luke. Wake up." She said quietly.

"Not now, babe. I'm too tired." He mumbled, eyes still shut.

Lorelai quickly pulled her hand away from him. "Luke?"

"Fine, but you're doing all the work."

Her jaw dropped looking over at him, was he talking about what she thought he was talking about? "Do you know who you are talking to, Luke?"

"Lorelai." He said and her eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead, he opened his eye slightly to look at her.

"You want to-"

Luke cut her off. "I'm messing with you, Lorelai."

"You're hilarious." She said with a grin.

"You probably want your bed back."

"I don't mind if you stay, you look cozy there."

He smiled at her and shut his eyes again. "Okay." He said softly, already started to doze back off.

Lorelai stared down at him a moment. "Are you sleeping with Rachel?" She blunted out.

Luke's eyes shot open at the accusation. "What?" He asked as he sat up some on the bed.

"Today you were acting different and you said you were catching up with her, if that's the term the kids are using these days."

Luke reached up and wiped his tired eyes. "I'm not sleeping with Rachel, she thinks we are engaged."

"Okay, but if she knew the truth would you be?"

He squinted over at her. "I really hate talking about this."

"Would you be?" She asked, making him exhale.

"No, I wouldn't be sleeping with her."

"You wouldn't?"

"You told me you wouldn't go back to Christopher because you deserved better, and that made me think I deserved better than an on again off again relationship every time she was missing the simple life and ran back to me."

"You do." Lorelai said with a smile.

"Today she told me she thought we would end up together someday."

"She said that to you while she thinks you were engaged to me?"

"She didn't mean it the way you are thinking, she wanted me to know she loved me but now she is going to move on, and she is happy I found someone."

"She is moving on?"

"She's leaving tomorrow."

Lorelai smiled to herself then looked over at him. "I'm sorry things never worked out for you two."

Luke looked over at her and grinned slightly. "Were you worried I was with her again?"

"I didn't want to see her hurt you again, and it could have messed things up with April."

"I wouldn't jeopardize everything I got going."

"With April?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, with April."

"Sorry for freaking out on you, you can go back to sleep."

"Night, Lorelai." Luke said then turned over and laid back down.

"Night, Luke." She laid down and closed her eyes, finally she could get some sleep again.

The next morning Luke went to the diner early and made Rachel breakfast like he had promised, then they talked awhile till her cab got there. The two of them walked outside and Luke helped her put her bags into the truck, Rachel went to the door and stopped looking back at Luke.

"It was great seeing you again, Luke." She told him with a smile.

"Same here."

"I'll check back in with you when I get the chance, just remember threatening teenage boys can get you in trouble now that you're an adult, so make sure there's no proof." She said making him smile. She leaned in to give him a quick kiss, nothing romantic, just a simple goodbye. "Bye, Luke."

"Bye, Rachel." He said then he opened her door and she climbed in, he shut it behind her and watched as it drove off, waving to her through the car window.

"You sad she's leaving?" Lorelai said, walking up behind him.

"No, I'm alright." Luke said looking back at her. "What are you doing up this early?"

"My bed suddenly got very cold when you left, I couldn't fall back to sleep."

"You want some breakfast? We can go inside and I'll have Caesar make you something."

"Naw, I was gonna go into the inn early today to get some stuff done, I'll get something there."

"Okay, I'll see you later." Luke said as she walked off without saying another word.

Getting most of her work done earlier that day Lorelai was able to leave the inn and get home by three. She was hungry but she didn't feel like going to the diner after what she had saw this morning, she had been pulling up in her jeep when she saw their kiss. She knew it was nothing to worry about, not that she even had any real hold on him but it still bothered her to watch. And she didn't want to tell him she had seen it after accusing him of sleeping with her the night before. Suddenly she heard the front door open and moments later Luke appeared in the kitchen.

"Hey." He said, looking at her sitting at the dining table. "You're home early."

"Hoping for an empty house?"

"No, only pointing out that you are home early."

"Slow day, they come about as often as Halley's comment."

Luke glanced into Rory's room then back at Lorelai. "Is Rory home yet?"

"You really don't want be alone with me here, do you?"

"That it not why I'm wondering, I want to show you both something."

"She'll be here any minute, what are you showing us?"

"You will have to wait for Rory to get here to see."

"Can I have a hint?" She asked eagerly.

"Your hint is to wait till Rory gets home."

"Are you showing me Rory? Because honestly Luke, I know what my daughter looks like by now."

"Just wait."

"I'm not good with waiting, I start creating random sernois in my head and that is never a good thing."

"You are an adult, you can wait a few minutes for your daughter to get home."

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I think it would be a good thing if you like it."

"Oh, slip and slide?"

"It's fifty degrees out."

"Is it a bunny?"

"Yes, it is. I'm a magician and it's been hiding under my hat the whole time." Luke said sarcastically.

"You can hide a rabbit in a baseball cap?"

"It makes my trick further advanced than all the others."

"Does it involve snacks?"

"Will you knock it off."

"Well I'm starving."

"Wait."

They heard Rory walk in the front door and they both said, "Finally."

Lorelai looked up at Luke. "Get whatever you want to show us."

"We have to walk to it."

"Rory, keep on your shoes." Lorelai said, hopping up from her chair and walking with Luke to the foyer. She grabbed her coat and put it on then slipped both feet into her shoes.

"What's going on?" Rory asked looking at them both in wonder.

"I told your mom I wanted to show you both something." Luke explained.

"Oh no, how long ago was that?"

"Like two minutes ago."

"That's two minutes too long."

"Ready!" Lorelai said, opening the front door. The three of them walked outside and the girls starting following Luke. "Where is it?"

"You will see when we get there."

"Is this like some trick to get us to go for a walk?"

Rory chimed in. "That'd be a good trick."

"It's not a trick." Luke said.

"Give us another hint." Lorelai insisted.

"Use your energy for walking faster instead of talking and we will get there faster."

"So it's a 'there'."

Rory pointed over at the diner as they walked through the square. "Oh, is it Luke's?"

"It is." Luke said. "I walked you two blocks so I could show you the diner."

Lorelai frowned at him. "That's not very fun."

"It's not the diner."

Lorelai leaned over to Rory as they walk and whispered, "You think we could break him before we get there?"

"It's hard to break Luke, but if anyone could it would be us." Rory whispered back.

Luke cut in. "You aren't breaking me, you are also really bad at whispering."

"Shoot." Lorelai said, snapping her fingers. "Now he knows our plan."

"We are almost there."

"This surprise is exhausting." Lorelai said as they started walking over the footbridge. "I wonder where the Armbrusters are."

"The who?"

"Mean duck family." Rory explained.

"Of course." Luke said as they walked through a wooded path, he stopped suddenly and turned around. "Okay, stop."

Lorelai looked around. "Our surprise is a bunch of trees?"

"Lorelai, close your eyes." Luke said then she closed her eyes, leaving one peeked open some. "I can see you peeking." He said then walked behind her, putting his hand over her eyes and his other on her shoulder so he could guide her. They walked a little further on the path then Luke stopped, keeping her eyes covered. Rory noticed the inn then turned to Luke and smiled big. "Ready?"

"Has my nagging you not already make that clear?" Lorelai asked then he uncovered her eyes, she looked at the inn and read the old Dragonfly sign before looking back at Luke. "What are we doing at the Dragonfly?"

"You told me how Sookie and you wanted to open your own inn someday, and I don't know if this is what you are looking for but if you like it I already talked to Fran who owns the place and she is giving you a great deal for it. It needs a lot of work too, but once it's done you could make turnover by year two, and I could cover whatever is leftover cost wise. I could be a partial owner or an investor, what ever you are comfortable with." He explained then Lorelai stared at him then back at the inn.

"Mom, are you going to says anything?" Rory asked.

"This place is beautiful."

"You like it?" Luke asked.

"I love it." Lorelai said, smiling over at him. "Can we look around?"

"I got the keys last night after work." Luke said, pulling them out of his pocket.

Rory smiled at Lorelai. "That's why you were late."

"I had to be brief about it, if I would have told you anything else you would have broke me for sure." Luke glanced over at Lorelai who was looking at the inn with amazement. "Shall we?"

"Yeah." Lorelai said then they both followed him up the porch, he unlocked the door and they all walked inside.

"I opened the windows earlier so we could see and to air it out a bit, there was also a ton of cobwebs in here, walked right into one of them." Luke said and both girls looked around the room when they heard a knock at the door.

Lorelai looked back at the door then over to Luke. "Do you already have a guest booked?" She asked, he smiled and walked over to the door letting Sookie inside. "Sookie?"

"Luke, you weren't exaggerating on the phone, this place is amazing." Sookie said looking around as she walked over to Lorelai.

"You knew about this?"

"Only for a few hours, Luke said to meet you here after I saw you walk by."

"What do you think, is it something you would be interested in?" Luke asked.

Sookie walked down a hallway and yelled, "Oh, we could put the kitchen back here!"

Lorelai laughed as they followed her. "I think that is a yes."

"You are buying the inn?" Rory asked.

"They can look around more before they decide, you haven't seen the upstairs yet or the stables outside."

Lorelai gasped. "Stables? We could have horses?" She said then grabbed onto Sookie's arm. "Sookie, we could have horses!"

Rory chuckled looking over at Luke. "I'm not sure they'll have to see that to decide."

Luke took the three of them on a tour of the place, he showed them the upstairs, the stables and the trails behind the inn they could walk the horses on then they went back to the front yard.

"Lorelai, what do you think?" Sookie asked.

"It's everything we wanted."

"It's yours if you want it." Luke told them.

Sookie looked over at Lorelai and smiled. "I do if you do, Lorelai."

"I want it, it's perfect." Lorelai said, staring at the inn.

"I'll let Fran know." Luke said.

"Does someone want to help me measure the rooms?" Sookie asked, pulling a tape measure out of her purse.

"You brought a tape measure?"

"I need to know if the kitchen is big enough."

"I'll help you, Sookie." Rory said.

"And if it's not big enough we can knock down some walls." Luke told them as they walked into the inn.

Lorelai smiled at him. "You shouldn't have told her that, she will have you in here with a sledge hammer tomorrow."

"I'd be happy to do it, but we should probably wait till after we pay for the place."

"What made you think of this?"

"When I was going for my run Rachel and I found it, we forgot it was even back here but she took pictures and I looked around. It looked like something you would like, and it's in Stars Hollow so you don't have to drive far everyday, and we get a lot of tourists here."

"But you went to Fran, and you are offering to help pay for it."

"You have helped me so much this last month, I don't know if I can ever pay you back for everything you have done but I'm hoping this is a start."

"This isn't just a start, this has been my dream for years."

"Well, you're always telling me all that crap about dreams coming true."

"It's not looking like crap right now." Lorelai said then she linked arms with Luke. "Thank you, Luke.

"This is your thank you." Luke said, gesturing towards the inn.

"You are really good at thank you's."

"You're sure this is the place you want?"

"One hundred percent, I couldn't have picked a better place." She said then she stood staring at it awhile then before looking over at Luke. "Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at her.

"I think we should kiss."

"Ah." He paused, unsure of what to say. "You think we should-"

She cut him off. "Like in front of the town, when we say goodbye we should kiss so it's more believable that we are a couple."

"Can't we just tell them I don't like kissing in public?"

"Is that true though, do you not kiss in public?"

"I have before."

"So they probably already know you don't mind doing it, they will figure out you're lying. And they know I'm not shy."

"I guess we could kiss goodbye in front of them."

Lorelai smiled. "We should probably do a practice kiss first, it would be pretty embarrassing if we place went in for a kiss and bumped heads. They would know it was our first time doing it then."

"A practice kiss?"

"Yeah, nothing special, just a small little peak on the lips."

Luke stared at her a moment waiting to see if she was being seriously, from the looks of it she was. "Okay." He said hoarsely.

Lorelai looked right into his eyes as she set her hand on his cheek, he let his hand rest on her side. Neither of them had to think about it after this and they both leaned in and their lips met, it was short and sweet but it definitely was more than a peak on the lips. When they pulled away they both stared into each other's eyes till they heard the inn door open and they split apart instantly.

"There is no kitchen space here, we need to extend it and I'll need plenty of ventilation." Sookie said then Rory walked out behind her. "And an area for an outdoor fireplace for barbecues.. Plus storage. Where do these people put anything? Ooh! And a pantry.. And a canning room.. And I'd love to smoke our own meats."

"Absolutely!" Lorelai said.

Luke leaned towards her and whispered, "Really?"

"She will calm down a bit and we can get rid of a few things on her list."

Luke nodded. "Are we ready to leave yet?"

"No!" Lorelai and Sookie both said.

"Before you said you were starving."

"I am, but I'm not ready to leave here yet." Lorelai said.

"How about I go back to the diner and get us all dinner then we can eat here." Luke suggested.

"Oh, yes!" Lorelai said excitedly. "And bring a blanket, it will be like a picnic."

"There are benches in the back."

"It's a picnic, we're supposed to be eating on the ground."

"Says who?"

"Every picture you've ever seen of a picnic shows people eating on the ground."

"Yes, and every time I have seen a picture of people eating on the ground I've thought, what the hell are you people doing sitting on the ground? Spring for some beach chairs, you cheapskates."

"Fine, we can sit on the benches."

"I'll go with you Luke, help you carry the food back." Rory said.

"Alright, we'll be back it a bit. And if you go inside don't stay in there too long, we have tested the place for mold yet."

"Pstt, mold is on half the foods in my fridge, I'll be fine." Lorelai said as Luke and Rory walked off to the trails.

"This was a really sweet thing for you to do." Rory said, smiling at Luke as they walked.

"It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal, no one has ever done anything like this for her. I can tell she really appreciates it."

"She deserves it."

Rory looked over at Luke. "Are you ever going to ask my mom out?"

"What?" Luke asked, looking back at her.

"You like her, don't you?"

Luke looked down at his feet as he walked. "I like her."

"And you've thought about asking her out before?"

"Your mom and I are just friends."

"But have you ever thought about it?"

Luke nodded. "I have."

"Why didn't you then?"

"You and your mom are very important to me, I couldn't mess that up."

"What makes you think you would mess it up?"

"Me and your mom don't have the best relationship history."

"Maybe you were just with the wrong person."

"Even with the right person, relationships are difficult."

"You two are so stubborn, I think one day you will realize how stupid you are both being."

"And I'm sure you will be there to rub it in our faces."

"Sookie will be there too, and she does her 'I told you so's' in song." Rory said then they kept walking. After they picked up all the food at the diner they headed back to the inn and had a bench picnic together, Luke even moved them so they could look at the front of the inn as they ate.

"Sun's starting to go down." Sookie pointed out as they all sat, looking at the building in front of them.

"We can watch the sunset on the inn." Lorelai said.

Rory crossed her arms. "It's getting cold."

"And Jackson is coming over to my house after he's done working." Sookie said.

"I have my call with April." Luke said

Lorelai smiled, shaking her head. "Fine, you all broke me. Let's go." She said and they all stood up.

After they walked Sookie home and said their goodbyes they headed back home, Luke looked at his watch as the walked into the house. "I'm already two minutes late on my call." He said walking straight to the phone on the desk and started dialing while Lorelai and Rory walked over and took a seat on the couch. "Hey sweetie, sorry I'm late for our call, I just got home."

Rory looked over at Lorelai and whispered, "He's a great dad, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Lorelai said, smiling over at Luke.

"No, I wasn't working. I was having dinner with Lorelai, Rory and our friend Sookie." Luke said into the phone. "It was nice, how was your day?" He asked and listened to her reply. "Really, that sounds like fun." He said, walking into the kitchen with the phone.

Lorelai couldn't believe the difference one day made, yesterday she was freaking out thinking Luke had fallen for Rachel again and today he was helping her get the inn of her dreams. And that kiss, she knew it was only meant as a practice but she had to admit it was pretty damn good. She decided then she would have to go to the diner as much as possible in order in get those kisses goodbye, breakfast, lunch and dinner she was gonna have to show up, maybe even evening pie if she had to.


End file.
